


Of Liars and Lovers

by KristinStone



Series: Living and Breathing in Flint [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Biting, Bonding, Cheating, Claiming Bites, Cunnilingus, Drama, Established Relationship, F/M, Family Drama, Family Issues, Fluff, Hand Jobs, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Knotting, Lies, Loss of Virginity, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Minor Character Death, Murder, Omega Verse, Shower Sex, Slow Build, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-11-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 02:15:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 44
Words: 131,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6034237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KristinStone/pseuds/KristinStone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack, 37, oldest son of a rich family, Alpha, single.<br/>Grace, 20, daughter of a slightly less rich family, Omega, single.<br/>Both under the pressure of their demanding families, both willing to keep up the facade of a perfect relationship in front of each other and society. But facades can hurt just as much as razor blades and shards of glass.<br/>Who can you trust if not even the one you thought to be the love of your life?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Favorites

Jack sat in the café the family of his potential mate had chosen for their first meeting. It was nice enough, quiet. Not in one of the “scene” quarters of Flint so he was spared with the sight of hipsters or whatever those cool young people liked to call themselves nowadays. It was a safe neighborhood for Omegas to move around without having to fear an inappropriate meeting with an Alpha. Although no Omega left the house without at least one bulky Beta Bodyguard not more than a few feet away from them.

Jack ran a hand through his dark brown hair and let out a long sigh. He only had a picture of the girl, because she wasn't more than “a girl” in his mind with her 20 years, with him so that he would recognize her as soon as she walked through the door.

20, he thought, old for an unbonded Omega but he wasn't after a mate that was still stuck with one foot in the playground and would rather spend her time playing with dolls. He knew enough Alphas who suffered under infantile childwives. It brought only problems with it; dissenting world views, unmatching intellectual capacities, different expectations from the relationship, or even physical problems because they got pregnant while their body was still on their way to become the one of a woman.

Pedophelic preferences weren't uncommon amongst Alphas and unfortunately not very frowned upon, while it was a felony crime for Betas. Not really fair but that's what you got when the highest courts were staffed with Alphas only.

He wasn't after a childwife. They were not his cup of tea and she was probably happy that an Alpha had even agreed on meeting with her. This social trend for Omegas to be young and submissive to get a mate before their 18th birthday was disgusting. He remembered how he had been as an 18-year old and that person was so vastly different from the man he was now but for Omegas it wasn't the same. Another unfairness in their society that was due to the Alpha rate in political and juriditial top positions.

Jack let out another deep sigh and looked down to the photograph in his hands. So that was his future wife, mate, mother of his children, he thought. Honey blond hair, blue eyes, full lips, slightly curved nose. Her thick brows were beautiful on her, many others wouldn't be able to have them and still look feminine but she could. They gave her a strong, but all in all, classical beautiful look, yet the expression in her eyes spoke of a bright mind as well. Another point for her. On the back of the photograph her mother had written the girl's basic data:

Name: Grace Florentine Chasseur

Age: 20 years

Height: 5''5'

Weight: 130 lbs

It felt a bit like assesing a horse rather than thinking about the potential mother of his future children. He glanced at his silver black watch. Should she come on point he would still have to wait for a few minutes. Jack let his green eyes wander over the other people in the café. There weren't many there and most of them looked like him: Suit, standard haircut, shaved clean, and with designer glasses on the bridges of their noses. He could filter the Alphas from the successful Beta fairly easy. Not just because of their physical build but also from the way they carried themselves. Alphas sat straighter, squaring their shoulders more even without meaning to, constantly seeming in control of their surroundings.

He was one of them but he preferred to stay where nobody could analyse him like he did right now. It wasn't like he was shy but he had never been a very social individual. Not if he could avoid it, that was. As senior partner of his father's firm he was forced to socialize with way too many people already so in his little leisure time he preferred to be at home and alone. Well, if he was to get a mate after today that would be over. Well, every good thing had a bad side to it, right?

Suddenly a whiff of a sweet scent made him turn his head to the door. The other Alphas did the same and followed the movements of the young woman who had entered the café a second ago. She scanned the room from behind her catlike sunglasses and gave Jack a few additional moments to look her up and down. She wore black pants, baby blue high heels matching her flowery high-necked blouse and handbag. Her hair was up in a high bun, leaving her slender neck free. Dangerous in her position as an unclaimed Omega to walk into a café full of Alphas. Was she bold or stupid?

“May I sit down?” she asked and made him snap out of his thoughts, “You are Mr Hunter, aren't you?”

“I am, please sit.” Jack stood up and wanted to pull out the chair opposite from his for her, but Grace was too quick for his well-mannered gesture to unfold.

When they both sat across from each other they spend a minute just looking at the other intently. Had they seriously photoshopped her picture for him? He didn't remember noticing the little beauty mark a little bit under her left eye and one over it on her left temple.

“Disappointed?” she asked eventually, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms over her busty chest.

Jack pursed his lips without answering.

“Did my mother tell you about the things I wanted you to bring here today?”

He nodded and pulled out his favorite movie, record, and book.

“An odd request,” he muttered.

“Not really. We are suppose to spend the rest of our lives together and I already passed my expiration date. No time to lose.”

“You're 20 years old.”

“Too old for my mother's taste. In her mind I should already be pregnant with my second child,” Grace sighed and took a closer look at the items he had brought with him here: Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, the best of The Beatles, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

“Interesting,” Grace mumbled and flipped through the book. Jack couldn't say how many times he had read it but it must've been somewhere between 100 and 150 times. “And dangerous.”

“Dangerous?”

“Either you picked this book because you wanted to gauge my reaction to the motive of miscarriage and creating life from death or you actually like this book so much.”

“And why would gauging your reaction be considered dangerous?”

The left corner of Grace's mouth twitched upwards and fluttered with her eyelashes before she answered with a breathy voice, “A soft, fragile Omega could lose her mind just from the mere mention of death and losing one's child.”

Her face returned to the cold composed mask she had put on for this meeting. Her little act had a big impact on him. His chest felt tight, his hands itched to touch her soft skin, and he felt the overwhelming need to protect her. Jack clenched his jaw to keep himself from growling like a giant cat.

“My mother told me you are from a wealthy family. Well, of course, my mother would never give her little daughter to a random Alpha. But you seem to be rich enough to deserve the right of this conversation with me.”

“You are a very odd Omega,” Jack said and squinted his eyes when she didn't even react.

“You're a very quiet Alpha. I never got to talk that much when I met the other candidates.”

“How many did you meet?”

Grace looked to the side for a second. “I am not supposed to talk about other Alphas while I'm with you.”

“Says who? I asked, I would like an answer.”

“I met five Alphas before today.”

“And they didn't meet your expectations?” Jack was very interested in hearing what had been wrong with them ..and what he could do better. He wanted her on more than _just_ an animalistic level.

“They just didn't fit. Someone who brings 50 Shades of Grey to a first meeting can't be a good mate.”

“That movie was awful.”

“Because the book was even worse,” she retorted with a snort. Jack smirked and leaned back more relaxed. She was smart and beautiful and she had a good sense of humor.

“What about you?” he asked still smirking.

“What about me?”

“What's your favorite book, movie, record?”

Grace dipped to the side, picking up her handbag from the floor. A second later Jack reached to take a closer look at the three items she had pulled out. Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Anna Karenina, and ..the best of The Beatles.

“Coincidence,” he said with a lop-sided grin and held up the record.

“Maybe I hired a PI and he told me what you listen to so that I can pick the same and you think I'm perfect.”

Now she smirked and it was beautiful.

“Did you hire a PI?”

“No,” Grace replied and laid her head to the side, “what's your best quality, John?”

“Jack, nobody but my mother calls me John,” he corrected her before answering, “I guess my wealth is my best quality.”

“No, that's just a circumstance. Coming from a wealthy family is no self-earned achivement. You didn't do anything for it.”

Jack stayed quiet for a moment and thought hard. “I'm a stable person. I'm not very moody like other Alphas I know. I love routines and I am patient.”

Grace nodded approvingly. “What's your worst?”

“Wait, is this an interrogation?”

“No, we are supposed to get to know each other and I'm sure you have more important things to do than waste your time with useless small talk. This is a conversation without the redundant weather stage.”

“So I can ask questions myself? Good. What's your best quality?”

“I am obedient, well-read, and young.”

“Not as young as other Omegas on the market.”

Market, he saw her mouth as she shook her head involuntarily. “Children who are sold to men for their amusement.”

“That's the world we live in.”

“The world we created,” she sneered slightly and cleared her throat before repeating her previous question, “Your worst quality?”

Jack looked to the side and chewed the inside of his cheek before he lifted his gaze back to her and said lowly, “I'm a liar.”

Her only reaction was a little twitch of her left eyebrow. “So, everything you just told me was a lie?”

He shook his head and waited for her second conclusion. “You're honest.”

Jack nodded. “I was never sure if that was a good or a bad quality but I encountered more uncomfortable situations when I chose to tell the truth when I should've better lied.”

“I see honesty as luxury. I can't be honest or I would face serious consequences. Alphas have that luxury.”  
“Omegas have luxuries as well.”

“Like?” Grace huffed. Everything his mind came up with was stupid so he chose the third option, keep his mouth shut.

“As far as I'm informed, everything is already planned to the last detail for our _Uncollaring Ceremony_. The only thing missing is your “yes” and we'll be husband and wife in less than a month,” she said after the pause had been long enough to be uncomfortable and awkward for both of them.

“Even after I just told you that I'm a liar? Wait, I don't know what's your worst quality.”

Grace got up from her seat, taking her belongings, and smirked when she said goodbye in that breathy voice she had used before on him. Jack was about to jump up and follow her but could stop himself last minute.

What the hell?, he thought and huffed a short laugh when she was gone through the door. He had never met someone like her and he wanted to make her his.

 


	2. The right choice

Grace was actually surprised that when she came home, Jack had already called her parents to tell them his answer was yes. Oh, quick on the draw, she thought sarcastically and rolled her eyes at her mother's happy, hysterical screaming.

Well, his decision had been made and her mother couldn't be happier. She was walking on clouds like she was the one who would marry in a few weeks. Grace guessed she should just feel happy too, right?

“And are you happy with the choice?” Grace's father asked over the dinner table, earning himself a sharp glare from his mate.

“It doesn't matter if she's happy or not. She will have a rich mate, one that seemed to have passed her ridiculous little interrogation tactic and still wanted her. Albert, your daughter is 20 years old, almost 21. We can count ourselves very lucky that he accepted her at all. Searching any longer for a suitable mate would've turned into a ridiculous hunt for a purple, winged unicorn.”

Grace said nothing. She had heard all those things from her mother more times than she could count since she had returned home from Woodlark Academy three and a half years ago.

“Rose, I will not have this conversation with you again. I would've never given her to some random Alpha just because he waved with suitcases full of money. I want my daughter to be happy with the man who will take care of her for the rest of her life,” Albert said with a deep, stern voice. His mate wiped her mouth with a napkin and excused herself when she ostentatiously left the dinner room.

“Great, now she's sulking again,” he sighed and ran a hand over his tired face when he leaned back in his heavy, wooden chair.

“It's nothing she hasn't heard before.”

“True.” The old man regarded his daughter with a side glance. “You are happy with the choice, aren't you?”

“I don't despise him,” Grace chirped, took another bite of her dinner, and fluttered her eyelashes. She had perfected her act as the little Omega that needed a strong protector at the Academy but everyone who knew her also knew that this just wasn't her.

Albert let out one of his rumbling laughs that ended in a fit of coughing and a desperate reach for his glass of water. Everyone in the family knew he was dying. His cigars were finally taking a toll on him. But nobody wanted to talk about it.

“So, he answered your questions correctly?” Albert asked after breathing wasn't demanding his undivided attention anymore.

“There is no real ''answering correctly''. Answering is already a good sign and his answers were ..satisfying.”

Albert lifted an eyebrow at her choice of words.

“He wasn't arrogant or self-centered like 80% of the other _500_ Alphas mom forced me to meet in the last two years.”

“It wasn't that much, Gracie.”

“But it felt like it.”

“Well, if 80% of them were arrogant and egoistic, what were the other 20%?”  
“Even older than you or, put simply, downright stupid.”

The Alpha shook his head and let out another deep sigh. “You are almost too headstrong for an Omega. You got that from your mother.”

Grace huffed a laugh. “He said I was odd ..but he was really nice, intelligent and honest. Plus he likes the Beatles.”  
“Then he must be a knight in shining armor! Huzzah!” Albert declared with a raised voice and an uplifted fist as if he was speaking to his sworn army.

She started laughing, covering her mouth when she started grunting lightly. Her mother hated it but her father had always made silly faces at her only to make her sound like a happy piglet when she had still been a child. The older Grace had turned, the more seldom she had had opportunity to laugh like that.

“I can't say that I'm happy. I only met him once but I am confident that he is a good man, a good Alpha,” she answered his initial question when she could breathe again, wiping away a tear from her eye.

“So I can give him my little girl without having sleepless nights?”

“You prepared me well enough that I know where I have to kick a man to keep him away from me. One hit and I will leave him.”

“Good plan. You know you can always come back home if he isn't what you thought he was.”

Grace stood up and walked around the table to her father. She hugged him and kissed his bearded cheek.

“I know, thanks dad.”

* * *

 

* * *

 

Two weeks later, Grace was standing in front of a mirror in the middle of the high class bridal shop her mother had picked for her wedding gown.

“Why can't I just wear your dress?” she moaned and glared at the seamstress at her hip. God, how she hated to be pinched and stabbed with safety pins.

“You have more ..more than I had when I was uncollared by your father.”

More fat? More ''annual rings''? More sass?

Ugh, Grace thought and slumbed her shoulders.

“Don't stand like that or your dress will be asymmetrical and ugly,” Rose snapped and Grace stood straight like a mannequin again. Rose loved her daughter, she knew it, but she had a very odd way of showing it by sneering and snarling while just wanting the best for her.

Grace bit her tongue when she felt a lump forming in her throat. It had been the same with Annabelle, her older sister. Only that Grace hoped she would never end like her, never!

“Turn around.”

Her feet worked on their own. More and more fingers fiddled with pins and needles at her waist, hands directed her to slowly turn so that the seamstresses could attach the last two layers of French lace. Her back hurt from the heavy dress and the unnatural straight standing position. Her Uncollaring Ceremony would be hell if she had to stand up for more than half an hour.

“Perfect,” Rose whispered and pulled her daughter out of her train of thought. She looked up at her mother and lifted her eyebrows. Were that really tears in her eyes?

Grace looked into the giant mirrors and was shocked by what she saw.

“I look like Empress Elisabeth,” she whispered and scanned the sight in front of her. Her dress had a carmen neckline, leaving her shoulders and neck completely on display. Her father was just getting the high-necked collier, her collar, from the jewelry store where his mother and grandmother had already gotten their ceremony collars from.

“No, you look much more beautiful,” Rose sobbed and clutched her hands over her mouth to muffle the little sounds of delight that escaped her throat.

Grace chewed her lower lip and moved a bit around on the round platform. The crinoline skirt was heavy and made every step a thoughtful move. How was she supposed to make the whole way down the aisle if two steps already exhausted her like a marathon? And the long train wasn't making anything easier.

“Why do I have to marry in a cathedral?”

“Stop moaning, Grace. It's tradition in your mate's family and we will respect it,” Rose scolded her daughter and gone were the happy tears from her eyes. Grace wondered how many people would be there ..or if she had to spend her Sunday mornings locked with hundreds of other people in a church she didn't believe in.

“You look gorgeous,” they suddenly heard from the door. Her father had returned with a jewelry box under his arm. Grace started smiling for the first time today and hopped from the platform to hug him.

She ignored the stings of the safety pins for the sake of the comfort in his embrace.

“They were able to recreate your grandmother's collar,” he whispered, knowing Rose would be angry as soon as she saw the content of the jewelry box. Annabelle had worn the original at her Uncollaring Ceremony but it was now lost, forever. “He will be breathless when he sees you like that.”  
“I won't see him before the Uncollaring, right?”

Albert shook his head and let go of her. “Unfortunately not. He's very busy and so are you.”

He helped her back up on the platform and opened the box. The diamonds sparkled like stars in the bright lights directed at her. The gems lay in a floral pattern that went well with the French lace of her dress and long veil.

Rose gasped loudly and left the room demonstratively when she saw the studded vines that would wrap around Grace's neck as soon as she would wear it. Albert asked one of the seamstresses to hold the box while he climed the platform and put the collar on his daughter. Her reflection sparkled and shone like a million nightskies. Grace was beaming with joy, her fear of the initial Ceremony replaced with childish joy over a present from her father.

The collier fit perfectly, not too tight, not too loose. Although it felt strange to have her neck covered with something other than a high-necked blouse, turtleneck, or a scarf. The collar didn't just cover her neck but also a bit of her shoulder, delicately playing with covering and revealing her tender skin over her scent gland in the crook of her neck on the left side, the spot Jack, John, Mr Hunter, however she was supposed to call him, would place the Claiming Bite.

Hopefully not too soon, she thought while Albert squinted his eyes, trying to fasten the clasps in the back of her neck. His eyesight was getting worse by the day but he was too proud to wear the glasses he clearly needed. When he had finally managed, he waved another seamstress over to hand him Grace's veil.

Her dress was still only holding together with pins and needles but he wanted to see the final result now. Impatience, thy name is Albert Chasseur, Grace thought and started to laugh out loud. He lay his hands on her shoulders and leaned his head against the side of hers.

“I can't believe my little Gracy is going to get a mate in a few weeks,” he whispered and purred, proud of his beautiful daughter. “He'll be head over heels as soon as he sees you walk towards him. He'd be an idiot if he'd treated you anything less than a queen.”

“An empress,” Grace laughed and wiped away a stray tear under her veil. Her mother would kill her if anything happened to the sheer fabric over her head. Albert kissed her temple and squeezed her before letting go again. He walked around her and pulled out his smart phone to take an obscene amount of photos of her in her wedding attire.

“You're worse than mum.”  
“She got to freak out at Annab-”

He shut himself up and cleared his throat. Nobody talked about Annabelle but with Grace getting a mate now it all came back up. The real reason Grace couldn't wear her mother's dress was because Annabelle had worn it and it would only feel like copying the ceremony from seven years ago.

“She won't come to my Uncollaring, right?” Grace asked and pulled the veil off her head. It felt stupid to wear it without actually marrying. Albert shook his head and let out a deep sigh. “You don't know where she is?”

Another shake of his head. He sat down on one of the chairs that were positioned for the mothers and bridesmaids, usually. Grace gathered her many layers of skirts and tried to sit on as little fabric as possible when she sat down on egde of the platform.

“You know why she couldn't come even if we knew where she is.”  
Grace knew it and she also had a piece of paper folded so tiny that it fit into the back of her little silver watch with Annabelle's address on it. She had left it for her little sister the night she had fled out of her cramped, bourgeois life that had always taken her the air to breathe. It broke Grace's heart knowing that she would not even see her big sister at the day if her Uncollaring Ceremony, the day she would stop being a daughter and start being a woman.

“Second thoughts?”

“No,” she answered and forced herself to smile, “I just hope my marriage will be a happier one than Annabelle's has been.”

“I'm sure of that,” Albert whispered with a lop-sided grin and a warm look in his eyes. Grace still couldn't deny that her hands turned sweaty by the mere thought of wearing this dress, neckpiece and veil in two weeks when she clutched onto her father's arms on her way down the aisle. Her heart was racing when she thought about the uncollaring. Would his hands be warm or cold? Would be claim her right then and there? Would he stain her dress before they even made their way home?

Home? His house? Was it her home? She didn't know this man, only smelled his scent once and talked to him for not even an hour. Suddenly Grace felt the weight of the collar pushing her down, making breathing an almost impossible task. Her dress was too tight! She couldn't breathe!

Albert sensed her inner turmoil and got up with a long groan before he sat back down next to her. He pulled her head against his chest and purred softly until she stopped shaking in his arms. Was she actually making the right choice or would she end like her sister? Alone and outcast from her family?

Hopefully the nauseating feeling in her stomach would be over by the time of the ceremony.

 


	3. Uncollaring Ceremony

Jack stood in front of the priest with his younger brother, Rick, as his best man. He was shaking. This was unfair. His brother hadn't been forced to marry in a fucking cathedral! But no, he as the oldest son, but last to get a mate, had to keep up with the family tradition.

“We marry in cathedrals since the 17th century,” his father had preached him with a scolding look in his grey eyes. Jack didn't get many other looks that scolding ones. Jonathan Hunter, the elder, was the personification of the stoic Alpha and Jack found himself acting like him more and more often the older he got.

“Relax, she won't chicken out,” Rick said with an encouraging smile.

Jack made a small growling noise. “Maybe I will.”

The younger man lifted his eyebrows and looked almost terrified, knowing he wouldn't be able to keep Jack from running out of the cathedral if his brother really wanted to leave.

“Don't worry, I could never take father's looks should I disappoint him today,” Jack murmured and wiped his sweaty hands off on his black slacks. Did every Alpha feel like he did right now? Right before he would uncollar the person he would spend the rest of his life with? He would have a family with? He hardly knew her.

Somewhere in the church a few babies and children were wailing and crying. He understood them so well. He wanted to cry too. Or rather, not cry but get out of here as fast as possible. With or without his bride.

Jack cursed inwardly. He had been smitten with her because she seemed intelligent and smart, witty and beautiful. Of course, she was beautiful but what if she was a marvellous actress and in reality she was just one of those Omegas who wanted a rich mate to provide a house and wealth and then to be pregnant all the time?

Jack didn't want to have a mere breeding machine as a wife and mate. He glanced to his mother sitting in the first row. She held her husband's hand and smiled at her son, little wrinkles and a few white strands the only sign of her advanced age. She was his ideal image of how a wife and mother should be. Fierce when one tried to harm her children, no matter what age, terrifying if you did some bullshit she found out about, and tender when nobody else would be.

“You're shaking,” Rick whispered and nodded down to Jack's hands. He quickly pulled them in front of his chest out of the audience's sight, mouthed a quick ''thank you'', and flexed the muscles in his hands to make them relax again.

His heart almost stopped when the music set in, announcing the bride's arrival. Jack took a deep breath and prayed that he wasn't making the biggest mistake of his life.

“She's beautiful,” his brother said so low that only Jack could hear him. He wasn't supposed to turn around and gape at her like a deer in the headlights but Rick could stare at his future sister-in-law all he wanted while she made her way down the aisle. “And she looks just as nervous as you do.”

“Great, thanks. I hope she doesn't run away last minute.”

“Nah, her dad has her in an iron grasp,” Rick smiled but his well meant joke didn't hit home. If anything it unsettled Jack even more. If she didn't want to be here and get uncollared by him, why had she accepted his proposal?

“Turn around.”

Jack took one last deep breath before he followed his brothers order and turned around to take his bride's hand from her father. She wore a thin veil over her face, her eyes cast down, the delicate fabric in front of her face moving in the rhythm of her hard breathing. Her father kissed her cheek through the veil before placing her hand in Jack's.

As soon as she felt the warm sweat and slight shake, Grace lifted her eyes to his face with an almost reliefed expression on her face. He guided her up the three steps to the altar in front of the priest. Jack didn't let go of her hand for the whole time the priest talked about respect and devotion in a good partnership and how God would be full of love and forgiveness.

All random phrases for Jack. He wasn't religious and the only thing he could think about was the smell of Grace's wedding bouquet. Hortensies and lilac. A weird thing to think about but it distracted him from what exactly was happening. Her hand was incredible cold, a sure sign of her nervousness. If she had second thoughts then she was at least willing to keep up the social facade and pull through with the Uncollaring Ceremony. Didn't mean that she would let him make her his wife in the archaic sense tonight.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when Grace let go of his hand to turn to her first bridesmaid, who was sporting a proud baby belly under her lilac babydoll dress. She handed her the bouquet only to offer Jack both of her hands to hold.

 

“Now to the vows,” the priest said loudly and looked at Grace with a prompting expression on his slim face. He looked a bit like a mean stork and that she had to begin with the vows was terrifying.

Oh God, she thought for the thousandth time since she had left the limousine outside the cathedral. Grace swallowed thickly and hoped nobody could her how her heart started racing like a greyhound. She had terrible panic, convinced that she would say her lines wrong, no matter how many times she had practiced them in front of the bathroom mirror.

Jack squeezed her sweaty hands slightly, giving her an understanding smile, before his thumbs started stroking the back of her hands. It felt like eternity but it had only been seconds before she opened her mouth and the sound of her voice filled the tall cathedral halls.

“I, Grace Florentine Chasseur, am submitting my body and mind to you, Jonathan Royce Hunter. I lay my hands in your hands, I put my lips on your lips. I swear to be a good wife and obedient mate to you, and a loving mother to our children until death ends this bond.”

Now was Jack's turn.

“I, Jonathan Royce Hunter, am promising to protect you, Grace Florentine Chasseur, your body and your mind from all harm. I take your hands in my hands, I put my lips on your lips. I swear to be a good husband and guarding mate to you, and a loving father to our children until death ends this bond.”

His hands loosened and he slowly reached up, brushing her veil over her head. He moved his fingers behind her neck to unfasten the neckpiece, her expensive and completely overdone diamond collar. Grace's heart was beating so fast she wasn't sure she would survive the ceremony without having a heart attack. When the uncomfortable, heavy neckpiece was finally removed from her, she took a deep breath. She had never been this uncovered in public and right now hundreds of eyes were directed to her. She was naked in a room with hundreds of strangers. Jack handed the collar to his best man, probably his brother judging by the family similarities, and turned back to her.

“You may now kiss your bride,” the priest announced and Jack took her hands back into his.

“Ready?” he whispered with his lips only an inch away from hers. A light nod from her and he dipped his head to the crook of her neck to plant a featherlight kiss on her scent gland on her neck. She shivered, closing her eyes and automatically moving her head to the side to provide him easier access to her most sensitive spot.

They hadn't talked every since their meeting in the café. But it seemed like he was also not after a _bloody wedding_ , so he wouldn't claim her here in front of everyone's eyes. Claiming was an intimate procedure and they hardly knew each other. When he would do it, though, they hadn't communicated yet. Maybe a week, maybe a month, maybe until her next Heat in one and a half months?

His soft lips on hers woke her from her daydream. The kiss was over fast but leaving her completely satisfied. After all it was her first. Little wrinkles at the corners of his eyes indicated his barely visible smile. For the first time she noticed the tiny scar at his hairline over his right eye and one at his chin.

“I hereby declare you husband and wife,” the priest practically screamed over the applause from the audience.

Their act was over. They were married and would be mates in ..who knew how much time he would give her to get to know him. Hopefully enough.

Annabelle's marriage came back to her mind. The Uncollaring Ceremony had been wonderful and like it had been ripped from a fairy tale but her marriage? Grace sincerely hoped that she wouldn't end like her older sister.

 

Jack pulled back and guided her arm to lay around his elbow when they made their way back outside the cathedral to the sound of the organ being played. He couldn't believe they were actually married. Rick had been right, she looked beautiful even though her eyes screamed that she would rather be on mars than here but maybe she was just as socially awkward as he was and just wanted the masses of people to stop staring at her. He definitely wanted that.

Her legs were shorter than he had anticipated so he had to slow down his pace to make walking with her look graceful. God beware he didn't look graceful, he thought and knew exactly that his father would still find a hair in the soup. Maybe he had seen his shaking hands or Jack had kissed her too long to be appropriate for a wedding in a cathedral. Well, he hadn't asked for it and as soon as he was through that door he was done with church until he'd baptize his, no, their first child.

“Do you need to change before we leave for the party?” Jack asked outside the cathedral when flower petals were thrown over their heads.

“No.”

He lifted his eyebrows in disbelief. “You will celebrate in that dress? The whole night?”

“I won't.”

He almost stopped in his tracks. What?

“But we will celebrate our marriage, right?”

“Of course but I won't be dancing the whole night ..unless you want me to that is.”

“At least one dance will be possible, right? Otherwise I don't have to even think of showing my face at my father's house and at work for two months.”

“No stress,” she muttered but nodded. Her hand around his elbow tightened when they were outside. Her neck was so bare that it was no wonder that she held onto the man who was supposed to protect her, although she had seemed so confident when they last (and first) met. Maybe this day was taking it's toll on her just as much as it was doing with him.

They were celebrating in his father's country mansion because the garden was huge enough to host all guests who had been invited to this terribly important event. A smaller entourage would've been enough in Jack's mind but he had the least say in his own wedding. He helped her climb into the oldtimer from his father's vast collection and shortly wondered if he even fit into the same car as her and her dress.

“I'm sure my mother will get a heart attack when you sit on it,” Grace said and patted her voluminous skirt with a wiggling eyebrow.

“She can send me the hospital bill,” he joked and tried not to sit on Grace herself while taking his seat.

The drive to the country mansion was almost an hour long. They didn't talk much ..or at all, to be honest. Grace fiddled with the top layer of lace of her skirt and more than once crossed her arms over her chest, laying her hand over her uncovered neck. Jack watched her from the corner of his eye. He couldn't say if she was content with him as her husband or not. Perhabs she didn't know either. They would find out as soon as they were alone after the party ended tonight.

 


	4. The death of a bachelor

When they arrived at the house, some caterers were busy preparing everything to their strict employers satisfaction. Grace really couldn't care less if the glasses had the perfect distance to each other or if the chair were all 5 inches from the table or not. She was married to a stranger who hopefully shared the same sense of humor and important standards.

They would have to discuss certain things, better before they got home tonight. Jack led her to a platform where the newlyweds and their parents would sit for the party. They overlooked the dancefloor and the tables for the other guests. The closer the friends or family members the closer they sat to the platform. Graces side was mostly filled with friends, his with family and business associates. Her mother helped her with her dress, wrinkling her nose when she saw the creases on the fine fabric.

Jack sat down next to Grace and leaned over to her ear. “Would you like a crash course into my family?”

She nodded and let her eyes wander over his side of the her husband. It didn't look much different from hers; Alphas with their Omegawives and their children sitting on their laps, playing with their father's ties and mother's jewelry.

He pointed to the closest table with two couples and two girls.

“My younger brother Richard and his wife Nina. My brother-in-law, Nicolas Caine,” Jack whispered and nodded over to the dark haired woman next to him, “my little sister Emily and their daughters, Catherine and Lilian.”

Grace wished she could introduce him to her sister but she would never even see Annabelle again, not in this life at least. He listed what felt like hundreds of names until her head was swimming. She could impossibly mesmrize all these names and the matching description he gave her. As soon as her glass was filled with Omega friendly white wine she emptied it in one go, earning herself a raised eyebrow from her husband and a scolding glare from her mother.

Well, she had no control about her daughter anymore now that she carried another surname and was part of another pack. The food was delicious, at least what Grace could eat without feeling her dress getting even tighter. Jack ate was she couldn't. She mentally made a list of how he ate. First the meat, Foie gras, then the salad, and last the rosmary potato slices. Eating from the best to the worst or was he a potato fan?

When they cut the cake he was obviously having the upper hand. Anything else, or even a playful struggle would've been a terrible faux pas. She nibbled on her piece of cake and handed it to Jack when she couldn't eat any more of it.

“Are you not a cake person?”

“I'm trying not to burst any seams,” she answered silently and smiled lightly. He seemed to check her eating preferences out as well. Good. That meant that he would at least be interested in her opinions and not force his own on her. Hopefully.

Suddenly a crystal clear clinking caught their attention. Nicolas prepared for a taost, clearing his throat and swaying as he stood up. He seemed drunk which was a real achievement for an Alpha. Jack took her hand and squeezed tightly, almost as if he feared that his brother-in-law's words alone could lure her away from him.

“A toast, a toast to the newlywed couple. May today's death of a bachelor be rewarded with hundreds of offspings and so much laughter that it would be enough for three lives.”

Jack grinded his teeth but lifted his glass nonetheless to keep up the facade. Grace wouldn't ask but it seemed like he and Nicolas weren't on good terms. Maybe he would tell her when the time was ready but until then she would keep away from this stranger, trusting her Alpha wouldn't put her into danger she couldn't free herself from.

When the guests had all eaten and the music, some songs of the Beatles mixed with a bit of smooth swing and covers from more modern songs but interpreted in a Glenn Miller fashion. Perfect for dancing. Whoever picked the music deserved a kiss.

After dinner, Grace could see Jack's mother get up from her seat next to her and walk over to the live band in the corner of the dancefloor. Was it time for the dancing? A cold shower ran down her spine. She was trapped in this monster dress and could hardly breathe, yet she was supposed to make a good figure while dancing with him and at least with her father too. Who knew how many other men expected a dance with her.

Jack extended his hand and waited for her to take it. Her hand was covered in cold sweat, she forced her breathing to go slow and steadily when she rose from her chair. Her dress was making it more than just a little difficult. Her mother-in-law was helping her with a understanding smile.

 

Jack guided her on the dancefloor for their first dance. Her dress was sweeping the floor. Good thing his father always kept his houses cleaner than clean. She was tiny, only reached his chin with the top of her head. Hadn't she been taller during the ceremony?

“Try not to step on my toes. I'm not wearing my heels anymore. They were killing me. Fortunately my dress is long enough to cover my indecency,” she whispered and received a half smile and a nod as an answer. Her hands were still cold or at least much colder than his own.

He pulled her close and started swaying to the music coming from the live band, _Here comes the sun_ , Jack's favorite. Her body was slightly warmer than her hands but in his mind she should be freezing. He couldn't even imagine how much she suffered in winter.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes,” he answered with a frown, “why?”

“You shivered.”

He didn't! Or did he? “No, I'm fine. And you?”

She closed her fingers a bit tighter around his hand and nodded. Yet, in her eyes was a hint of discomfort but maybe it was just her hurting feet?

“My favorite song,” Grace whispered and closed her eyes, letting the music carry her thoughts away, while Jack guided them over the dancefloor. She didn't see his smile or the way he looked down at her face, so close. He huffed a short laugh when her lips started to mouth the lyrics.

He couldn't memorize lines for the life of him, not from songs, not from poetry. He had practiced the wedding vows for a month so that he wouldn't make a fool of himself and his family at the Uncollaring Ceremony. They didn't stop dancing for the next three songs. Grace even went as far as leaning her head against his chest with a little sigh until her father approached them and cleared his throat. He was followed by Jack's mother. Ah, the parent dances.

“And how does being married feel so far?” his mother asked as soon as the music had started again.

“It's been ..what? Six hours? I don't really feel much different from how I felt as a bachelor. She doesn't seems to thrilled though.”

“It's a very tiring day, let me tell you. And she doesn't know you yet. Have you seen her side of the family? She doesn't seem to have a third of the family you have.”

“A-ha,” he murmured and let his eyes wander over the guests.

“I think she's just a bit overwhelmed by the masses of ''Hunters'' here,” she snickered, “I was spared that, coming from a big family myself.”

“You are part of the reason I have so many cousins, aunts, and uncles.”

“Mea culpa, John. In my next life I will try to be a lonely orphan.”

“You are forgiven,” Jack chuckled and twirled them both around fast. “Any tips of how I should spend the next hours with her?”

His mother lifted her eyebrows. She knew her son to be smart and in control, not as someone who asked his mother for advice on women. “Listen to her. She will tell you what she wants ..and don't be stupid.”

“Never.”

She gave him one of her lifted eyebrows and slightly shook her head. “I'm sure you will be a good husband and, eventually, a good mate to her. And she seems like a smart girl from what you told us.”

“A girl, but not for long.”

She gave his shoulder a small slap just as the song ended. He automatically looked over to Grace and her father. The old man held her tightly in his arms, almost as if he never wanted to let go of her and she looked like she felt the same. Even though they were not even friends Jack felt bad and wanted to comfort her. His father-in-law kissed Grace's temple and let go of her again. Grace nodded and sniffed a bit before smiling at Jack.

“What's wrong?” he asked silently and walked off the dancefloor into a more quiet corner.

“I'm fine, just a bit tired. I didn't sleep well last night.”

“Me neither,” Jack huffed and offered her a tiny smile, “Maybe we should get home earlier than planned and let the people keep celebrating without us.”

“No,” Grace answered quicky, “no, it's too early to sneak out of here. It wouldn't be appropriate. A few more hours won't hurt, right?”

He nodded and they made their way back to the platform and their seats. Grace sipped a bit of her second glass of champagne. She was bying herself time while holding up the facade for the social game they were playing since birth.

The music died down suddenly and the pregnant bridesmaid climbed the little stage for the musicians. She held an ukulele in her hands and talked with the band before the singer stepped away from the mic and gave way for the new performer.

“Hello, my name is Juliana and I'm the maid of honor, meaning I'm also the bride's best friend and as such it is my utmost pleasure to embarrass her.”

The crowd laughed politely but Rose almost choked on her glass of wine. Jack on the other hand leaned back with a smirk. An ukulele and the promise of playful embarrassment would be fun.

“Would the bride and groom please return to the dancefloor once more.”

Grace's face was a mixture of horror and a barely hidden smile until Jack reached for her hand and pulled her with him down to the open space. The other guests were already taking their seats again, not wanting to stand in the couple's way.

“I remember you swooning over that old song at Woodlark. You stole everyone's nerve when you only ever played that one song on your ukulele. Enough that I learned it too, involuntarily,” Juliana said with a fake scowl send Grace's way. She started laughing, knowing what was about to come. The first time Jack heard her laugh that day.

Juliana cleared her throat, checked if her fingers were in the right position and started singing.

“Blow me a kiss from across the room..”

Suddenly her other bridesmaids joined in and sang while Juliana played the instrument and Jack started swaying with Grace to the tune.

“Didn't know you played ukulele,” he laughed and drank in the sight of her glistening eyes and her rosy cheeks when she smiled from one ear to the other. So that was what she looked like when she was happy.

“I do. Ever since I went to Woodlark. A present from my father back then.”

“I'd love to hear you play it as soon as you're settled into your new home,” Jack purred and dipped his head down to kiss her neck, taking a deep breath of her scent. It was amazing how fast sudden discomfort could ruin it. Grace suddenly had a sour tinge surrounding her, only noticable through the little nuance in her scent. She didn't flinch or pull away. A good actress with magnificent self-control.

His father will be more than content with her at their family gatherings, a nice face to look at, a bright mind to have conversation with, but enough constancy to keep smiling even if she doesn't feel like it.

It would be on Jack to find the little indications and hints that distinguish her fake smiles from her genuine ones. He had already gotten a taste of her happy smiles now that they danced to the ukulele but he still had a lifetime to learn reading her and he would start with that tonight.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Juliana's song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diJlRGadvEA


	5. Taking time

Two hours later, they both sat in the backseat of the oldtimer, driving home. Grace had her head leaned against his shoulder with his suit jacket, covering her shoulders, keeping her warm and, for the first time ever, wrapped up in his scent.

Jack enjoyed the image of her chest slowly rising and falling in the rhythm of her calm breathing. He laid his arm around her shoulders and smiled when she automatically snuggled into his chest. The streetlights painted ever changing orange shapes on her smooth skin. He hadn't thought she would be this tired but who knew how many hours she had needed to look as marvellous as she had done when she'd walked down the aisle a few hours ago.

One and a half hours after they had left the party, the chauffeur stopped in front of Jack's house. He tried waking Grace as softly as possible but she still flinched when she realised that she was laying in his arms. Understandable, he was still a stranger to her.

“We're home,” he informed her when she furrowed her brows and looked through the windows to the house they were standing in front of.

“No.”

“Yes,” he laughed, “your new home.”

Grace closed her eyes and smiled over her own little foolishness. Of course this was her new home. She would never live back in her parents home. Jack left the car and walked around to the trunk, pulling out the bag her mother had packed for the night, and then opened the door on Grace's side.

She had used the time to take a few deep breaths, gathering the courage to actually leave this car and step over the threshold into her married life. God, she was so terrified that she might not satisfy him tonight or that he had just played the role of the charming, nice, smart Alpha to lull his parents and her into believing that he was a good match for her. Hopefully her fears were unfounded.

Jack opened the entrance door and brought her bag inside the dark hallway while Grace stood outside and looked the facade up and down. It was a mansion, two stories high, made from grey brick with white windows with dark green shutters. Very classy but the big, no, the giant windows in the second floor made it look modern. The windows would've been revealing too much of what was going on inside if the house wouldn't be hidden in a ..forest? At least it was bedded in a nest of tall trees. There was gravel from the driveway under her shoes, cutting into the satin fabric of them. It smelled like they were somewhere in the middle of nowhere, yet Grace could hear sirens from an ambulance not that far away from the house. Now after nightfall, she couldn't tell how far they were from Flint. Maybe she could still see the skyline from her new home.

With a sigh and the thought that she would find out tomorrow morning, Grace wanted to climb the stairs when Jack appeared from inside the house. He had turned on the lights waited now for her to end her visual examination of the exterior with his hands buried deep in the pockets of his pants, his sleeves were rolled up and his lilac tie loosened.

Grace lifted her eyebrows when she saw his red eyes. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I just couldn't bear my contact lenses a single second longer. Had to take them out before I do anything else.”

Jack pulled his hands out of his pockets and, without a warning, sweapt her up from her feet to carry her over the threashold. There was nobody there to see that they honored this little sentimental wedding tradition but Grace liked it nonetheless.

Being so close to him and smelling the sweat of the long day linguing in his clothes made her head spin. This was her Alpha, she suddenly realized. He would be the father of her children, her first and only man, the love of her life. Grace closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest. She liked his slow steps as he carried her up the stairs and along a long hallway into the bedroom.

When Jack let her down again, her eyes were instantly glued to the big bed. And this was the place she would lose her virginity tonight. Grace swallowed thickly and hoped her panic didn't show in her face. His hands on her naked shoulders felt like they were made from lead, pushing her down with their weight. Her breathing got heavier until she simply held her breath and closed her eyes. Inwardly she screamed at her to keep calm and that every fucking Omega and Betawoman had to go through this and if it really was so terrible, humanity would've extinted millions of years ago.

“Your first time?” his voice rasped right next to her right ear.

“Yes,” Grace breathed and felt her hands starting to shake. For fuck's sake! She wasn't one of those cute, helpless Omegas that were afraid of their own shadow and she definitely wasn't afraid of a little blood!

But all her fierceness was forgotten when she heard the deep rumble of a male purr right behind her. Her knees went weak and Jack needed to wrap his arms around her to keep her on her feet. He buried his nose in her neat wedding updo and took deep breaths while he stole her last thought with his purr.

She smelled amazing, a tinge of arousal awaking his own desire. All he needed to do now was getting her out of this dress ..and better without tearing it. That would probably not be the best possible start into their marriage. But where the fuck was the zipper?

He folded his hands around her waist and turned her towards him. Her eyes were hooded with lust, her lips slightly apart to let out her little puffs of breath. Jack lifted her chin with one of his fingers and kissed her beautiful, shiny lips. And for the first time it seemed like she actually wanted to be kissed. Grace leaned into his chest and lifted her arms around his neck. She weaved her fingers through the shorter hairs at the back of his neck and sighed so lovely against his lips that Jack almost lost his self-control.

She's a virgin, he told himself over and over again. He couldn't just throw her on the bed and thrust into her like he wanted to. No, gentle was today's premise. He didn't want to hurt her.

His fingers were still searching for a way to get her out of the dress until he let out a frustrated groan and needed to look for the actual zipper. Unsuccessful.

“Were you sewn into this thing?”

Grace snickered and took a step back. Under her left arm was a hidden zipper, opening a flap of fabric that offered him a way to open her lacing that had constricted her the entire day. As soon as he had loosened the first few rows of her lacing, Grace let out an obscene moan and braced her hands on the foot of the bed. She was able to breathe properly for the first time in hours and only now she noticed how tense her muscles had been thanks to her unnatural position the whole day.

Jack ripped at the lacing as soon as he had loosened them up enough to be sure he wouldn't destroy the dress. He ran his hands over her exposed skin, loving the feeling of it. His cock rose to life in his pants, straining against the expensive fabric.

Suddenly Grace stood up straight again and brought a bit of distance between them. She held the top of her dress tightly against her breasts and blinked a few times as if she needed to process this whole situation from a different angle. Jack would've never guessed how ..shy she was after their first meeting. Maybe he had been wrong and she wasn't as ''special'' as he had thought she was. But she was still beautiful and his lawfully wedded wife.

“Where's my bag? There's something in there that I need.”

Now was Jack's turn to look like a sci-fi android with a processing problem. He blinked repeatedly when he tried to remember where he had put her bag. Living room, kitchen, bathroom, closet. Yes!

He turned around and pointed at the wall behind him. There were two doors, one on the right (his walk-in closet) and one on the left (hers). “In there.”

“And the bathroom?”

“First door on the right down the hallway.”

“Thanks,” she murmured and hurried past him into the closet. Well, hopefully she wouldn't take too long or his self-control and intention to make it the best first time an Omega had ever experienced wouldn't survive long enough to make the best out of the night.

A second after he had sat down on the foot end of the bed, she left the walk-in closet again, wearing a fluffy bathrobe and carrying something in her hands, hurrying towards the bedroom door. Jack looked after her with a quirked eyebrow but only lay down backwards with a tired sigh. His erection was obvious in his pants and sooner than later it was becoming uncomfortable. He could imagine her giant eyes when she came back and he was already down to his socks.

Oh, socks! He should probably get rid of them first. There was absolutely no way known to man to take off one's socks in a sexy motion. He had seen enough porn to know that even pornstars sucked at that. Stockings were different thing, they were sexy on default and Jack sincerely hoped that Grace wasn't taking then off herself this very second.

Jack pulled off his socks and threw them across the room like he usually did before he remembered that he was no longer living here on his own. Ugh, that meant getting up, collecting his socks again, and dumping them into the hamper in his closet.

Grace was already back and looked like a piece of ..candy, when he returned into the bedroom. She wore a sheer babydoll-lingerie-thingy in a really light pink colour. Her breasts were almost jumping out of the bra top, her white lace panties were showing through and, thank God, she was still wearing her white stockings. A deep animalistic noise of appreciation escaped his throat by the sight of her. The slight frown on her face relaxed as soon as she heard it.

Within three long strides he was right in front of her. Grace wanted to make a surprised step back but his hand grabbing her by the waist stopped her instantly. Jack dipped his head into the crook of her neck and decided to let his animalistic side take over. Her arms wrapped themselves around his neck when he lifted her up and carried her over to the bed.

He let her down abruptly, knocking the air out of her lungs. Jack drank in the sight of her underneath him: her flushed skin on her face and cleavage, her blown pupils, her shiny, slightly swollen lips. Just delicious. Jack felt his cock twitch. He needed to get out of his pants and inside her.

Jack sucked at her scent gland, making her shiver with lust, while he started unbuttoning his dress shirt and opened his belt.

“Are you on bc?” he asked hastily and slid off the white fabric from his shoulders. His tie was still hanging around his neck, making him look like a male stripper.

“What?” Grace's head was spinning. She needed a couple of moments to understand his question but she still couldn't make sense of it. Her whole body was on fire. She craved his touch, forgetting how tired she was after her long day or how little she knew the man who was hovering over her exposed body. True, she still wore something but this flimsy little piece of fabric couldn't be considered clothing.

“Are you on birth control?”

“No.”

From one second to the other, Jack stopped and Grace felt worry rise in her chest. He let out a deep sigh that ended in a huffed laughter. “Then we'll have to change that first thing tomorrow.”

Jack stood up and walked into his walk-in closet to change into his pj's. He wasn't going to rush into things. The last thing he wanted was looking back at his life in 20 years and find that if they had just waited a bit longer before they had started a family, they would've been happier. And sleeping with her unprotected tonight was too risky for his taste.

When he returned, his cock had hardly softened, visible through the dark blue plaid fabric but as soon as he was asleep, it would be gone. Grace sat in the middle of the bed and hugged her knees to her chest with an unreadable expression on her face.

“I will not sleep with you tonight, you can change into something more comfortable,” he sighed and turned off the light in his closet.

“But this is our wedding night.”

“Yeees, and I would like to know you before I risk pregnancy. I don't want to regret anything.”

Grace frowned, looking hurt for a fraction of a second before looking to the side.

“Do you disagree?”

“I didn't expect it.”

Jack couldn't resist and chuckled. “What did you expect?”

“Defloration, blood, pain.”

“Ah,” he snickered, “all the funny things parents tell their daughters so they are afraid of sex and don't fuck around.”

“So all the stories are lies?” Grace asked with a smirk.

Jack climbed into bed next to her and shook his head. Her hair was still in her wedding updo, little crystal flowers sparkling in the warm light of the bedside lamps.

“I'm not saying it couldn't hurt. Knotting will definitely hurt. That's why I plan on knotting you during your Heat. I read articles that ..nevermind. I want us to take time.”

“My next Heat is in one and a half months. We're not going to have sex until then?” she asked incredulous, shortly forgetting to wear her cool mask.

“No,” Jack laughed, “but as I said, I won't risk anything. Even though my father would probably rip my head off, but if we find that in half a year or so that we don't match as good as we thought we would, we can file a divorce and nobody -”

“Has to regret anything,” Grace finished his sentence. He was right and she knew it but the word ''regret'' was somehow making her feel like a failure already.

“Exactly. So, do you have a gynecologist here in Flint?”

Grace nodded but felt uncomfortable talking about something like that with him ..a stranger. Her husband, she needed to remind herself.

“We'll see them tomorrow and get you a prescription for the pill and as soon as it's all in dry sheets, we can begin our married life in all it's pleasures.”

“Huh, maybe for you.”

“Well, I'm sure you will enjoy yourself too,” he chuckled darkly and let his eyes wander over her body, reaching out his hand towards her waist. “Don't you have something more comfortable and less seductive for tonight?”

Before he had finished his sentence, Grace had flinched away from him. Jack pulled his hand away confused. Was she angry because he didn't want to breed her? She hadn't winced when he had touched her before.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, it's just ..” Grace lifted the edge of her tinted sheer material and revealed a stripe of skin that had been rubbed almost bloody. Jack moved closer to examine her injury.

“How did that happen?”

“The dress was a bit too tight,” Grace muttered and wanted to cover it again but Jack wouldn't let her. Quite the opposite. He pushed the fabric out of the way a bit more and ghosted his finger tips over the sore skin.

“Come,” he blantly ordered and pulled her off the bed towards the door leading to the hallway. He guided her into the bathroom and sat her down on the edge of the bathtub before he started rummaging through his mirror cabinet. Grace eyes grew wide when she saw all the little jars and pots, pills, and drugs in there.

“I pull a muscle every once in a while and I don't run to the doctor for every little ouchie,” he said when he saw her questioning look.

Grace tried not to laugh at his choice of words but at least she managed to keep it to a lop-sided grin. Laughing down at him wasn't the best thing to start a marriage with. Jack glanced at her, grabbed an antibiotic, cooling ointment and a long strip of patches, and pulled himself a stool out of the corner to sit down and take care of her little ''ouchie''.

“Please hold it up,” he said and pushed up the sheer fabric again, “I'll try not to hurt you.”

“Good resolution for our marriage,” she joked and glaced down at his concentrated face. He squinted his green eyes, they were almost looking brown from her current position, when he covered the angry red mark with the cooling ointment, before he covered it with the patch.

“Better?”

Grace nodded and let go of the fabric that barely hid anything underneath it. “What kind of sports do you do?”

“I box with Rick since I was 12 years old, usually on mondays and wednesdays, and I play golf with my father at least once a week,” he murmured and checked the position of the patch before he nodded satisfied with his own work. Grace tried to hide her yawn behind the back of her hand but failed miserably, making him chuckle before he lead her back into their bedroom.

“Which side do you usually sleep on?” he asked when she walked over to her closet.

“I've never shared a bed with a man before.”

Oh, yeah, right. She was still a virgin and would remain such for at least another couple of nights until birth control set in and they had grown accustomed to each other's company a bit more. Grace slid into her closet and left it again a few minutes later. She was wearing her long hair down that almost reached her butt. Jack looked her up and down in her teal coloured shorts and a pink xxl-shirt with ..a pug with a crown on it. He couldn't keep from smiling when she walked closer and climbed into bed to his left.

“Nice shirt.”

“Thanks. Juliana gave it to me as a present to my 18th birthday.” She looked around a bit awkwardly in the wide bed. Were they actually supposed to sleep so far apart? Well, he had more experience with sharing his bed with a woman, so Grace decided to let him lead their night. Not like she had been in much control up to this point.

She slid deeper into the plush pillows and stole a glance in his direction. Her husband was just taking off his watch when she first noticed the little curls of chest hair that peeked out the neckline of his simple white t-shirt.

Grace had seen him ..almost half naked and yet that little detail hadn't made it through the haze of her lusty mind when they had almost had sex. She itched to touch it but knew better than to start petting him like a cat. Although she really loved his purring.

“Good night,” Jack whispered, his face only inches from hers as he leaned over her to turned off her bedside lamp as well after he had already switched off his own. His warm hand stroke up her cheek when he placed a featherlight kiss on her lips.

“Night,” she breathed, a bit overwhelmed by the sudden closeness to him. His arm didn't pull back all the way, draping it over Grace's belly and offering his other arm as a pillow for her. She needed a bit of suffling around and eventually found herself wrapped up in his arms with her cheek pressed against his chest.

If this would be her marriage, she couldn't have asked for more. He was considerate, thoughtful, and tender. And she loved his scent. This musky smell of masculinity that just told her that she was safe under his protection, that he was perfectly able to provide for her and their cubs, that no other man was a better breeding partner than him. She didn't even know him for a total of 24 hours but she already wanted her children to carry his genes in them.

Grace fell asleep with a light smile curving her lips upwards. Jack didn't see it but felt just the same.

 


	6. Breakfast and Gardens

The next morning, Grace woke up from way too much light hitting her closed eyelids. She blinked a few times before her eyes had adjusted to the sunlight. Was that a skylight over her head? Where was the roof? Grace saw birds flying over the house, pink and orange clouds slowly making their way over the sky, catching the light of the rising in them.

Grace turned her head to the left side and glanced out of the ceiling high windows looking out into lush green treetops.

A sleepy grumble behind her reminded her that she wasn't alone anymore. The first of many mornings she woke up in his arms. The weight of his arm over her waist and the steady breathing at her neck only dawned to her now.

The bedroom was completely flooded with light and he still seemed to be fast asleep. What time was it?

Grace carefully turned around in his arms, peeking over his shoulder, and searched for an alarm clock on his bedside table when she suddenly looked into Jack's green eyes. So, he was awake.

“Good morning,” he murmured and kissed her forehead.

“Morning,” Grace answered a bit awkwardly, feeling strange being so close to him and hardly knowing him.

“Did you sleep fine?”

She nodded and smiled lightly up at his face.

“Good,” Jack groaned and rolled onto his back, running a hand over his face and eventually sitting up. Grace smiled even wider when she saw his chaotic bedhair. He had a giant cowlick sticking up and making him look like a comic figure. She was sure she had smudged panda eyes, not having removed her make-up last night but he didn't seem to be half as amused by her looks as she was with his.

“What do you eat for breakfast?”

“I don't know. What do you have?”

Jack let out a long breath as he thought hard and ran a hand over his messy hair. Too bad, he smoothed his cowlick down again. “I have coffee and tea, maybe some juice too in a corner of my fridge. Cornflakes for when I oversleep, and fruits for when I oversleep a lot.”

“Nothing else for when you don't oversleep?” she snickered and stretched like a cat. The sheets were so damn comfortable! His smell lingering in them, surrounding her, made it even better.

“I usually oversleep,” he laughed and stood up. Grace looked after him when he walked towards the door. Her eyes catching sight of the buldge in the front of his pants. The morning wood that Juliana had told her about in a hushed voice at their first meeting after she had married her Alpha, Maxim. If not for her best friend, Grace wouldn't know anything about how it was to be married. Neither the teachers at Woodlark, nor her mother had given her any information or advice on marriage or wifely duties.

In the end Grace hadn't needed her advice last night, although it was helpful in a way. It kept her from asking stupid questions that would make him think she was dull-witted and nothing but a nice face. There was nothing Grace hated more than to be reduced to her Dynamic.

Her mother's education was definitely counter productive with her demands. Grace had been taught to be obedient, never speak up against an elder or an Alpha, her all time motto being “An Omega is to be seen, not heard”.

Grace hated her Dynamic! She wanted to be able to be more than just the wife or mother of someone important. But she was doomed to end like all the Omegas before her. As Jack's wife and his children's mother. Nothing but a name in the family tree.

When she stood up and walked to the tall window front her breath caught in her throat. She had a wonderful view over a grand garden with trees taller than the house, the greenest grass Grace had ever laid eyes on, and the most colorful flowerbeds outside of England. She itched to smell the different scents, touch the silky flower petals, and feel the sun on her skin.

Grace also saw the skyscrapers of Flint, closer than she had anticipated. They must've been on a green island right in the middle of the city. Amazing. The estate was bordered with the high trees and a wall, overgrown with ivy. She immediately fell in love with the house and the garden it had to offer.

“Do you know the name of your gynecologist? Or even the number? I'd like to make an appointment asap,” Jack said right behind her. Grace hadn't even heard him coming back in.

“Dr Jane Olivier, Hannover Place 3429,” she answered almost automatically. Dr Olivier had been her gynecologist even before she had entered Woodlark. A nice Betawoman with kind eyes and always with a smile on her lips. Grace had hated her as a child because her mother had always been convinced that she had caught an infection that had endangered her fertility. Completely unfouded hypochondria that had caused Grace to visit her gynecologist more often than any 11 year-old before her period ever should. Dr Olivier had also punctured her with so many needles that it was a miracle Grace still had enough blood circulating through her body to survive her mentrual PostHeats.

“You don't know her number by heart as well, or do you?”

She did. “Do you have something to write?”

Jack rummaged through his bedside table and handed her a charcoal pencil and a crap piece of paper he had pulled out of the top drawer. She wouldn't ask what art supplies were doing in there. Maybe it was just a thing he had thrown into the drawer. Grace had had the most peculiar stuff in her drawers because she had just dumped it in there.

Grace sighed lightly and scribbled down Dr Olivier's number before excusing herself into her walk-in closet. Only now she really had the time and that calmness to examine the small room. Well, it was fairly big for a closet with space for more clothes than she would ever own, although .. With her wedding dress on the corner it was already looking too small, despite the empty shelves and wardrobe rails.

The bag on the stool in the corner only held one other outfit for today. Hopefully her father would bring her things here today or she would have very funny next days, either walking around naked or in dirty clothes. Maybe she should walk around in her wedding dress like a ghost from a gothic novel. The thought made her smile into her cheek but she got dressed in her other outfit she had packed two days ago so she didn't had to be dependend on her father bringing her other clothes into her new home right at the first day of her marriage.

When she walked downstairs she was a bit lost. It wasn't like the house was super big, had millions of room and winding corridors. It just wasn't home and a strange place without her parents scent in the air.

 _“People are like moths. They always yearn for light,”_ her art teacher had told her in seventh grade and it was true. Grace followed a trail of light on the reddish brown mahogany flooring into an open room. To her left an old dresser that covered the back of the longest of the three leather couches that gathered around the fireplace and the flat TV. And on the other side an open kitchen with a matching counter facing in the same tone as the floor boards. The was a little bar section with stools that almost got in the way of the massive dining table in front of the kitchen.

The light Grace had been following came from a wide window front that replaced the entire back wall of the house. It provided a perfect view over the garden and the little terrace. The was a telescope on it as the only item apart from an outdoor couch and two side tabled next to it.

Jack was in the kitchen, going through the counter tops on his fruitless search for something he could offer her as breakfast. He should've gone grocery shopping yesterday, he thought and muttered one curse after the other when he slowly lost hope.

“Do you tend to the garden yourself?”

“Ehm, no, I have a gardener. In my care even cacti die within a week,” he huffed and decided to simply take her out to a bistro or a café that served breakfast.

“I would like to garden. I have a pretty good hand with plants and your gardener clearly doesn't know that those pink flowers over there don't belong into open sun. It burns easily.”

Jack looked at her for a moment and eventually nodded. ”Please take whatever you want. This is as much your house as it is mine now that you are my wife.”

Glace smiled at him friendly and looked at his empty hands with a growling stomach.

“Put on your shoes. We eat in a café. Seems like my cabinets are all empty.”

“But you did know that I was gonna come here today, right?”

Grace blinked confused when he started rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.

“Technically, yes.” He hadn't seen himself standing in the kitchen the morning after, that was true and he hadn't thought as far as breakfast, but he had known that she would be here now. “It's been a bit of a mess in the firm and I spend the last week pretty much 24/7 at the office to prevent a total fallout, so to speak.”

Jack wasn't half as organized as he wished he was.

“What exactly do you do?” she asked and stood up slowly.

Jack had always had a hard time labelling what he was doing to earn his money with. He wasn't exactly CEO or partner in his father's firm but he was in a leading position under his father, and on the same level as Rick and Nicolas.

“I ..I studied bionic engeneering and work for my father,” he finally settled on as an answer.

Grace lifted her eyebrows, looking genuinely impressed. What had she thought he was doing? It wasn't like his profession was ''rich son''.

“And what exactly do you do?”

“We develop high-tech prostheses and robotic ..gadets to make life easier.”

Grace still didn't know what he did in the firm of his father but she was too hungry to ask him a third time and make him think she wasn't paying attention.

She only nodded and walked back upstairs to her all-important bag to retrieve her day shoes. Her feet hurt just by the tought that she might have to walk around in her wedding shoes again.

Half an hour later, they sat in the café they had met for the first time. At this time of day they were almost the only guests there. Another couple was making starry eyes at each other in the corner of the room that was farthest from the door.

Grace involuntarily shook her head with an fed-up expression on her face.

“What? No lover of love?” Jack joked and looked back down to the menu in his hands.

“No lover of stupid public show of affection of love-struck idiots.”

“You almost sound embittered,” he said in a sing-song and huffed a little snicker.

“No, I guess I'm just a child of my mother's. She hated it when ..” Grace stopped herself, cleared her throat, and cast down her eyes to scan the menu like he did. He frowned about her sudden stop and looked at her slightly blushed cheeks.

“She hated what?”

“Nevermind.”

Jack didn't try again. She would tell him if she wanted to. Maybe later when they knew each other better.

“What do you want to eat?” he asked instead and changed subjects. “I tend to take the pan cakes.”

“I'm more into waffles or toast and scrambled eggs if anything.”

“And drinks?”

“Cosmopolitan,” she said with a smirk that mirrored on his own face.

“I meant coffee, tea, hot chocolate, milk with honey?”

“Am I a child?” she laughed.

“Well, ..”

Grace narrowed her eyes and put the menu to the side. “So, you see me as a child?”

Her voice sounded like he was standing on cracking ice. One wrong step and he would break through the surface.

“Nooo,” he drew out longer than he would usually, “I see you as my wife and you are a lot younger than me.”

And technically he could have a child her age, he thought and shivered involuntarily but subtle enough to go unnoticed by her.

They had pan cakes and hazelnut flavoured cappuchino, and waffles and hot chocolate, unsweetened. Jack made a mental note that she didn't seem to be a sweet tooth, at least when it came to beverage. They made light conversation about topics that wouldn't go too far into personal or political territory for a breakfast with a stranger.

“I don't know. I think dogs are a nice addition to a family,” Grace said and sipped her hot chocolate.

“I'm not so sure about that. I mean you would have to find someone who can take care of them during the Heat and, maybe it's just me, but I don't like the idea of having something that can't communicate it's feelings with me but sports a fine set of sharp teeth around my child.”

“But dogs can communicate. They wack their tails, they growl, they bark.”

“I'm sorry, “ Jack laughed, “But I don't speak _Dog_.”

His phone rang before Grace could reply. It was Dr Olivier's receptionist telling him that the doctor just received a cancellation for an appointment and was expecting them in half an hour. “We'll be there. Thank you.”

Grace had heard enough to know what the phone call had been about and swallowed thickly. She hated going to the gynecologist but she had no choice but to follow her Alpha's wish.

 


	7. Small needles, big decisions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beware of ''bullshit-biology'' in this chapter. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

Jack sat next to her, looking down at his phone with furrowed brows. Grace itched to just grab it and smash it against the next wall to get rid of at least some of her cramped up energy that made her feel like throwing up. On every other day she would be playing with her hair but it was up in a crown braid. Stupid small life choices, she thought with grinding teeth.

The smell of the private practice already send shivers down her spine. Grace kneaded her ice-cold hands, listening to the silent ticking of Jack's watch.

“You can go inside now,” the doctor's receptionist announced and led them into the doctor's office. “Dr Olivier will be with you in a minute.”

And they were alone again. Without wasting another second Jack pulled out his phone again and made an unhappy noise.

“Is something wrong?”

“Mild trouble at the London Stock Exchange,” Jack murmured, his frown deepening with every word.

“ _Mild_ and then such a frown?” Grace tried to distract herself from her surroundings but Jack wasn't much help when he just repeated that it was "mild" and zoned back into his phone.

Great! Thanks for nothing!

A minute later Dr Olivier entered the room with her signature friendly smile on her lips.

“Hello Grace, how are you?”

“Fine,” she answered, buzzing with discontent. Only now that Jack put his phone away, he noticed the subtle change in her scent.

“Congratulations on the wedding. I read it in the paper this morning.” Dr Olivier turned to Jack and shook his hand when they introduced themselves to each other. The doctor sat down behind her big desk. “So, what can I do for you?”

“The standard checks regarding genetic compatibility and a prescription for birth control,” Jack answered, laying his hand on Grace's forearm. He stroked his thumb over her arm, the thin silk fabric of her blouse felt smooth under his fingers, though her skin was as cold as ice. Even more than usual.

“So, you've decided to wait with the babies.”

“Yes,” Jack answered and looked over to Grace. She smiled with a slight frown. “Right?”

He laid his head to the side and looked at her questioningly.

“Yes, sure.”

Dr Olivier arched an eyebrow as did Jack. Both thinking that she didn't sound sincere in the slightest.

“Grace, I don't want to decide this over your head. If you have another opinion than please don't just nod and endure it.”

“He's right, Grace.”

“But I am content with this decision. I just hate being here,” she laughed and looked between Jack and her doctor, before she gestured to him and continued, “I don't want to be a breeding machine for a stranger. So, we're cool.”

Jack's eyebrows twitched into a frown just for a milisecond when he heard her tone. It sounded like she was lying but maybe it was due to her discontent of being here at all.

“I'll have to ask you a few questions before I'll examine Grace and take a few genetic samples for testing.”

Great, even more needles that would poke and pierce her, she thought and closed her eyes in defeat.

Jack pulled his hand away from her arm again, trying to ignore the buzzing of his phone in the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

“How old are you, Mr Hunter?”

“37, 38 in June.”

Dr Olivier hummed quietly and made notes before she asked her next questions.

“Do you have siblings?”

“A younger sister and a younger brother.”

“Do you already have children?”

“None I know of.”

Grace lifted her eyebrows. She had expected to hear a ''no'' but she guessed this was the more rational answer. Maybe an old flame had a child from him but she had never told him about. Dr Olivier smirked into her cheek and nodded.

“Any illnesses? Have you had measles in your childhood? Do you have chronical pain or anything?”

“I had all the child sicknesses when I was an infant. My doctor, Dr Black at Kennedy Square, is annually checking my physical status, making sure I am fit for reproduction. And I don't suffer from any chronical diseases or pain.”

Grace listened to his steady tone as he told Dr Olivier that he was in perfect shape for whatever their marriage would bring.

“Where does your family come from?”

“The Hunters came to Flint in the 18th century. We still have a few relatives in England.”

“Any genetic illnesses in your family?”

“We have a few cancer cases but that's all self-inflicted. The side effect of being heavy smokers,” Jack explained calmly. His grandfather on his mother's side had smoked cigars his entire life and so he had paid the price with an early death. Emily and Rick couldn't even remember their grandfather.

“Are you an AB-Alpha or an AO-Alpha?”

“AO, my mother is an Omega. Our family lays much focus on status, meaning that we do not have any Betas in our bloodlines.”

Just as snobbish as her own family, Grace thought but also knew that ''keeping the family clean'' could bring a big problem with it.

“I will need a family tree from you to make sure incest can be ruled out.”

And there was the problem. Due to the small number of Omegas, about 3-5 % of the world's population, and relatively small number of Alphas, 20-25 %, it was likely to stumble across a blood relative on the search for a mate.

Grace knew of a girl she went to Woodlark Academy with that shared the same great grandfather with her mate. She sincerely hoped that this wouldn't happen with them too because that was just weird.

Jack pulled out his smart phone and typed something on the screen before he murmured, “I got it here on my phone because I already thought you might wanted to see it. If you give me your e-mail address I can simply send it to you.”

How prepared he is, Grace thought and started kneading her cold hands. Dr Olivier hummed impressed and a few minutes later she was already comparing Grace's and his family tree that went back to the times of King Richard III of England and Charles VII of France. There were links between the families but none in their direct bloodline. That Grace and Annabelle were the last offsprings of the Chasseur-family made things easier as it thinned the family tree out to two names at the end. No cousins, no nieces, no nephews, nothing.

Jack side was by far the biggest ''pure'' family Dr Oliver had ever seen. The Spencers, his mother's side, and the Hunters were very child-rich families that had found each other. It took her a bit longer to go through that family tree and check for any links. It was impressive that even after the Inquisition, in which Omegas had been burnt as witches thanks to their ''unchristian'' behaviour during their Heats, the families had still managed to survive, stay ''Beta-free'' as radicals liked to call it, and yet avoid incest in their bloodlines. And concerning the Chasseur-Hunter-relationship it seemed all clear.

“Perfect. All in all, you're a perfectly healthy Alpha and I don't see any reason why you and your wife shouldn't be parents of many happy, healthy children in the future,” Dr Olivier concluded with a smile and jotted down her last notes.

She didn't need to ask Grace any questions. She knew her clinical record better than her own and with that all in dry sheets they could procede to the physical examination. Grace's dreaded part of today's visit here.

“Do you want to stay with her while I check your wife's condition?” Dr Olivier asked and stood up to walk Grace over to the examination room with the aweful gynecologist's chair waiting for it's next victim. Grace hoped he would say no but Jack only looked at her for an answer. She didn't seem to look terrified enough ..or maybe just terrified enough to make him stay.

Grace changed into a pink hospital gown, still kneading her hands and looking at Jack like he was a vicious dog. He stood in the corner of the room with his arms crossed over his chest while Dr Olivier put on her gloves and sat down on the roller stool in front of the gynecologist's chair.

Great, bare and stared at by a stranger. Her day seriously could only improve from this moment on.

“Please sit down, Grace.”

She followed her doctor's order and saw from the corner of her eye that when she lay back and spread her legs, Jack actually turned his head to the side. He didn't stare at her and from the way he stood now, it almost looked like he was feeling uncomfortable being in here with them.

“Oh,” Dr Olivier said when she saw that Grace was still a virgin, “How long are you married?”

“Since yesterday,” Jack answered, keeping his head turned away.

“And you haven't taken her.”

“She's not on birth control.”

Grace could hardly keep herself from grinding her teeth. She was right there, why was nobody taking _with_ her instead of about her?

“What about condoms?” Dr Olivier asked and looked over her shoulder towards Jack. He was only giving her some kind of a ''I'm not stupid''-look and stayed quiet. When she turned back to her patient, Jack briefly made eye contact with Grace before he turned his head again.

“If you name me one brand that actually manages to stay on comfortably and doesn't rip, I'd be forever grateful.”

“Well, as soon as birth control works you won't have to endure the little latex-devils anymore.”

Did Grace even want to know all this? She had never felt this unimportant in her entire life. An Alpha and a Beta were deciding over her life and nobody even got the idea of asking her. Well, to be fair, she didn't know what she could've added to this conversation but feeling like a lifeless car in a workshop was definitely not great.

Dr Olivier inserted the ultrasound and checked her insides. It was cold and felt wrong but Grace remained as immobile as the puppet they must've thought she was. Usually she managed to zone out during this part of her visits here but not if her gynecologist and her husband kept on talking.

“So you actually managed to keep your hands off her? I don't see any signs of anal sex. Or did you stick to oral?”

“No, nothing of that kind. I'm not an animal that has to mount it's doe, bitch, female, whatever you want to call it.” Wife!, Grace screamed inwardly and frowned at the word ''it'' like she was a thing and not a human being. “I can wait until it's safe.”

“So pulling out wouldn't be an option for you?”

“I followed my 8th grade High School biology lessons very attentively and know where pulling out can lead to.”

Dr Olivier leaned back and took off her latex gloves again. “I think you are the first Alpha I meet that wouldn't risk pregnancy if he gets sex in return.”

“Am I suppose to feel flattered or like a weirdo?” Jack growled deeply.

“You can get dressed again, Grace.”

“Thank God,” she whispered and rescued herself behind the screen again, still perfectly able to listen to their conversation.

“I'm impressed, is all I'm saying. Gentlemen have become a dying species lately. Your wife is young, healthy and will have her Heat in about 9 weeks.”

“She told me that it was one and a half months.”

“Maybe she made a mistake, but according to what I just saw during the examination and to her schedule I looked into when I was checking for her family tree data it will be another 9 weeks. Do you want to wait until then?”

For a moment there was complete silence in the room, only disturbed from the fabric rustling behind the screen.

“I'd rather not. Though, I plan on waiting with the knotting until then.”

“Good decision. It will make it easier on her.”

And again she was only ''her''. No name, no question how she felt about it.

“What if I want it sooner?” Grace heard herself say and buckled her belt before she stepped out from behind the screen. Jack and Dr Olivier looked at her with arched eyebrows.

“I don't think that is such a good idea. You should listen to your husband in that regard. He has already chosen the least painful way of introducing you to it.”

She had never said she wanted him to bend her over that goddamn gynecologist's chair and thrust inside her like she was an old whore! Grace had just wanted to remind them that she was still there and had a working head sitting on her shoulders.

“Please, sit down and roll up your left sleeve, Mr Hunter.”

Oh-oh, no, Grace knew what would happen next. She had been completely wrong, this here was the worst part of today's visit.

Jack followed the doctor's order, rolled up his sleeve and let the doctor take a blood sample. Grace stood in the corner of the room, biting her thumb and staring at his exposed left arm, muscles and veins covered with slightly tanned, warm skin.

She looked terrified with her wide eyes and arms wrapped tightly around her middle. The way she looked at the needle that was slowly inserted into his vein almost looked like she was afraid of needles or was it the blood that ran into the vial?

“And now to you,” Dr Olivier announced, writing Jack's name on the little paper tag on the glass vial.

“Don't you have enough blood samples of me from my other examinations? You must have a whole bathtub full with my blood by now.”

“I need a fresh sample, Grace.”

She showed a pained grimace but accepted her fate. Slowly, she walked over to where Jack sat, still having her arms wrapped around her middle. He rolled down his sleeve again after Dr Olivier had patched him up, and made space for her. Grace looked at him like she was longing for him to stop this before a needle could come too close to any of her veins.

But they needed to check if they were compatible before anything could happen. Maybe he was carrying a gene that didn't go to well with hers and right now he could still make everything that had happened undone without too much damage being done. Maybe they should've checked all this before they had gotten married. But no use in dwelling, they were doing it now. Better late than never.

Grace turned her head away and held her breath then the cold metal of the needle penetrated her tender skin. She didn't want to cry, she wasn't a child anymore!

“And we're done,” Dr Olivier said and pulled the needle out. Grace jumped up from the chair and hurried over to the far corner of the room, holding her hurting arm and glaring at her doctor.

“Now we only need to talk about the best birth control for you.”

They walked back into the office and sat back down.

“So, we could either start with regular Omega birth control but you would have to wait until her first day of PostHeat for it to start.”

“Not an option,” Jack answered quickly.

“The next option would be to start when her next tri-cycle begins. Her cycle is devided in three Beta-cycles which gives Omegas the possibility to conceive even though they are not in Heat at the moment of conception. Her next tri-cycle will start in a week. Can you wait another seven days before you consumate your marriage, Mr Hunter?”

“I'm confident that I will survive it,” he smiled lop-sided but grinded his teeth. He had hoped for maybe two days and not another week.

“We can start giving her Beta birth control, BBC, then and change to the Omega version, OBC, in two months.”

Grace only listened to the voices but not to the words anymore. They weren't talking _with_ her anyways so she could also zone out and think of other stuff. For example how she would change the garden into her own little heaven on earth.

“She will have to take the pills every day to about the same time. Many women chose to take them right after waking up and making them part of their morning routine because it is vital that she doesn't skip one. Otherwise protection isn't provided anymore.”

Jack nodded, listening closely. He wouldn't oversee Grace taking the pills, trusting that she will be taking care of it herself. He had better things to do than to hover over her like a helicopter the whole day.

“She might have a gap of three hours to take the pills but it should better be on point. I will also give you a prescription for painkillers that won't interfere with the pills' agent. When you change to the OBC the time gap will widen to 12 hours. And she'll need another painkiller set.”

Jack looked over to Grace who pinched her lower lip, staring at Dr Olivier's golden name tag on the desk. He furrowed his brows for a split second when he realized she wasn't paying attention. This was important!

“Thank you, Dr Olivier,” Grace sighed and blinked until her eyes focussed again.

“Yes, thank you.”

“I will give you enough pills for the next eight weeks and a complete set of the OBC for the rest of the year which means that we will see each other around Christmas again should nothing else happen in the meantime.”

She checked her calender and asked when Jack would have time. He pulled out his phone again and Grace shortly wondered what he would do if that damn thing would fall into a puddle or was really smashed against a wall.

“23rd December, 2 pm, would be free,” he mumbled and frowned. The time around Christmas was usually pretty packed with dinners and social commitments. A short afternoon in this practice would probably be a nice change from the obligatory permanent grin.

“Excellent.” Dr Olivier handed Jack, not Grace, the pills and the prescriptions for the different sorts of painkillers. When they were in the elevator on their way down into the lobby, Jack gave her the pills and silently cursed when he looked at his phone again.

“Are you sure you can entrust me with this?” she asked sharply and held the pill packages up. “Not even my doctor dared giving this into my incapable Omega hands.”

Jack huffed a laugh and nodded. “Yes I am, because you said it yourself: _[You] don't want to be a breeding machine for a stranger. So, we're cool_.”

Yeah, Grace thought and looked down to the pink and yellow packages in her hand, we're cool.


	8. "Je t'aime"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had French when I was in school but that doesn't mean I can speak it. Please excuse any minor mistakes.

At home, Jack gave her a little tour through the house, starting with the laundry room in the basement.

“You don't have to do my laundry. I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself. Just so you know where to find everything should you ever want to wash anything.”

“Do you have a maid?”

“Ehm, yes, but just for cleaning not for laundry or cooking. She comes three times a week, every two to three days.”

“What's her name?”

Jack looked at her as if she had asked how fast the sun was moving in a second. “I don't really know her name.”

Grace nodded, quietly judging him as just another typical rich Alpha who didn't care who was scrubbing his toilet. Snob!

Jack walked back upstairs to the ground floor. There was a smaller bathroom next to the entry door, a wardrobe on the opposite side, and the stairs up into the upper floor. Through a tall, wide archway they walked into the living space she had already seen this morning. Open kitchen and dinner space to the right and the living room part of the house.

“You already said you wanted to take care of the garden, so I won't waste time with showing you around. You have completely free hand with it, except for the terrace. I would like it to stay the way it is right now.”

“I agree,” Grace murmured and let her eyes wander over the lush green grass, colorful flowerbeds and tall trees that offered just enough shade for certain plants Grace had in mind. “Do I have a financial limit?”

“No, well, nothing over two Million. But I think that's enough for a garden, right?”

“Way too much,” she laughed and already planned out the layout of were she would plant her beloved herbs, and the vegetables and some of the fruits she wanted to grow herself. She had big plans for the garden.

“Shall we go upstairs?”

Grace nodded but could hardly tear her eyes away from the garden to follow her husband. She liked his back. His broad shoulders and just the perfect curve of a back. Grace's hand itched to touch it and feel his muscles move under her fingers.

She was glad he had agreed on marrying her. Grace wasn't blind. She saw how handsome he was with his silky, dark brown hair, and green eyes. He had told her he was a boxer but luckily he didn't have the typical flat boxer nose that would've made him look a bit less handsome.

Grace's eyes were, very unladylike, fixed on her husband's firm ass when he suddenly stopped. He arched his eyebrows more than smugly when he turned around just in time to see that she needed to lift her head again to look him into the eyes. And the little blush on her cheeks wasn't helping her with her ''stealth mission'' either.

“There are three rooms over there that don't need to interest you,” he said, pointing at three doors that were on the other side of the open gallery hallway, “two are empty guest rooms, apart from a bed, a wardrobe, and a dresser. They are sharing a bathroom in the middle. The third is my home office and personal realm.”

“Personal as in _''I store my dark secrets in it and if you ever lay eyes on them I will have to kill you''_ or personal as in _''This is where I watch my porn the whole night''_?”

Jack laughed out loud and made a thinking gesture before he answered, very boringly, “No, unfortunately more like: Personal as in _''This is where I do all the work related stuff I couldn't finish in the office and had to bring home with me, although I would rather watch porn the whole night''_. Sorry to disappoint you on the dark-secrets-front.”

“Too bad,” she sighed dramatically, ”I guess I will just have to make up your dark secrets then. Something along the lines of world domination or genetically altered super-intelligent bunnies that tailor your suits.”

Jack smiled into his left cheek and slightly shook his head. “You should think about writing a book.”

“I don't think so,” Grace answered and wrinkled her nose, “There are enough Omegas out there who write books and only get a polite half-smile from the Alpha authors who make real money. I'd rather not be one of them.”

She was right. Society still liked to see Omegas as either a myth of virtue and purity or the stupid little housewife that only took care of the babies and their often times aggressive husbands. Intelligence was still expected but weirdly enough not really appreciated when they wanted to show it publicly.

Jack turned around and pointed at the bathroom and bedroom doors down the hallway.

“You already know what's behind them so I won't have to show you those, again. But, ehm, this is your private room,” he announced and opened the door right in front of them. Grace looked around unsure until she had taken a step into the room and saw that it was positioned on a corner of the house just like the bedroom.

It was flooded with light, thanks to the high windows and skylight, and provided an even greater view over the garden only that these windows didn't reach down to the floor. The windowsill was wide and padded. Perfect for sitting on it and lounging, reading a book or playing her ukulele.

“Do you like it?” Jack asked, sounding almost nervous with his hands buried deeply in the pockets of his pants.

“Yes, I do,” Grace whispered and leaned closer to the glass for a better view outside.

“It's all yours. I will respect this door as a total boundary. Is the door closed, I will not disturb you unless the house is on fire. If the door is cracked open or left ajar, I will knock and wait for your invitation before I enter the room. You are Queen over this house but this is your personal realm.”

“Where I can hort my highly intelligent bunnies that plot world domination?” she laughed and looked at him over her shoulder.

“If that is your deepest wish, so be it,” he answered and just wanted to add something when they heard the door bell ring. “I guess that will be your father with your belongings.”

Grace hurried downstairs and ripped open the door to wrap her arms around her father's neck. She had kept a straight face around Jack but she still was only 20 years old and she was so scared of living with a stranger, even though he seemed nice.

“I missed you,” Grace whispered right next to her father's ear and could feel him tense up.

“Isn't he treating you well?”

Jack stood in the open door and lifted his eyebrows, about to open his mouth and assure that he had been nothing but a gentleman to his daughter, when Grace already did it for him.

“No, he's perfect. Can't I just miss you anyways?”

Albert made a vague head move and gave her a lop-sided grin.

Some bulky men with heavy cardboard boxes came up the driveway and brought them inside under Jack's directions while Grace continued talking with her father.

“I don't think I want to ask how your first night with your husband has been but your mother will surely have a heart attack if I come back without any intel.”

“So, you're a French spy now,” Grace concluded and narrowed her eyes, letting go of her father and slowly walking up and down the driveway with him.

“Oui, cherie, alors. Raconte!”

“There not much to tell. We got here ...and went to bed.”

“Please, spare me the details. Just tell me if he was the right choice and if you think he can make you happy.”

“Nothing happened, Dad. He didn't want to touch me -”

Albert stopped in his tracks and looked at her with a deep frown. “What? Is something wrong with him?”

“- without birth control, I wanted to say. I think he's fine but it's not like I have much experience I can compare him to.”

“Alright, I think that is enough information for your mother. At least he doesn't seems to be brainless.”

“No, I think he's anything but.”

And she liked that. Grace saw it as a plus that Jack looked good and was in great shape but she had always been more into intelligence and reason than mere muscles and a nice face. As soon as you got old your looks faded but the mind only grew as the grey hairs got more prominent.

Albert smiled down at his daughter and pulled her into his arms when her face turned sad. The moving guys were already bringing the last boxes into the house and that would mean that her father would have to leave again soon. It was a strict taboo to touch another man's Omega even if it was the own daughter. Jack didn't really seem to mind but Grace still felt his eyes on her back when he stood in the door frame when every thing Grace had ever owned was brought into hee new home.

“It's time to go,” Albert whispered with a deep voice, clearing his throat to fight against the lump that had already formed. Grace closed her arms tighter around him, listening to his heartbeat, knowing it would be the last time she would ever be allowed to be this close to her own father.

“Je t'aime, Papa,” she whispered and sniffed against the tears rising behind her eyes. Grace hardly ever spoke French and when it was only with her father. Another thing she would never do again. Nobody would love her as unconditionally as he had always done and she would never feel so loved.

“Je t'aime, Grace. We'll see each other at my birthday party in two months, alright?”

Jack watched the tender scene in front of his eyes. He had expected to be more aroused, seeing his Omega in the arms of another Alpha. Maybe his brain hadn't switched to the possessive-mode regarding her, yet. Or it was just because the other Alpha was her father and didn't present a threat in his eyes. Jack was confident that his father-in-law wasn't going to steal her from him after not even 27 hours of marriage and, in all honesty, if it would come to a physical fight, Jack wouldn't have to fear anything from the old man.

Grace nodded and blinked away the tears that had already formed in her eyes. She didn't want to cry in front of Jack. He was a stranger and she didn't want him to think that she was an over-emotional Omega like 90% of all the others she had met at Woodlark.

“Goodbye, Mr Chasseur,” Jack said from the door and ended this scene when he thought they had had enough time. 

He had no idea how Grace was feeling. Jack, as an Alpha, had the privilege of remaining in the lap of his family after he had married. She on the other hand was forced to leave the people behind who had given her love and protection her entire life. Stupid in his mind, as any Alpha he knew and himself would probably have it easier to move away and start a new life with their mate by their side.

Archaic rules that nobody questioned because "it had always been like this". Jack wasn't dumb. He knew that it might have been a good idea to separate fertile females from the bosom of the family to avoid incest _during the stoneage,_ but today?

When Grace had said goodbye to her father with a last, long hug, she looked completely devastated and he felt sorry for her.

“If you need another minute...”

“No, I'm fine. I had more time than others to prepare for the break.”

“You will see them again. Just not daily. I'm not expecting you to forget they ever existed.” And he didn't plan on completely cutting her off from her parents. As far as he had seen during the wedding she didn't have a lot of family so every single person was even more important to her.

Grace waved when her father's car disappeared behind the tall trees and a corner of the driveway, and repeated without looking at Jack, “I'm fine.”

Jack nodded and guided her back inside the house, hoping that she wouldn't miss her parents too much and truly be alright when enough time had passed by. She wasn't fine, not today at least.


	9. Snappy growls

It was still early afternoon and her suddenly growling stomach reminded Jack that he still had nothing to eat in his kitchen. Well, nothing but a drawer full of take-out menus he had collected over the years.

“What would you like to eat?” he asked and pushed a moving box of the way when he wanted to enter the living space.

”What do you have?” Her voice sounded like she was fighting tears but her face looked cool and relaxed. Jack fanned out his top take-out restaurant's menus and told her to pick one. She lifted her eyebrows when she saw the selection: Indian, Italian, Asian, Ethopian, and Mexican.

She had never had Ethopian food. If she already had a new address and practically a new life, why not try new food as well?

So she tipped her finger on the forfth menu and tried to make sense of the strange names that greeted her when she opened the paper menu.

“Any recommendations?” she asked unsure. Jack pointed at one meal she would never be able to pronounce and said, “It's beef ...and it's spicy but that's to say about all the dishes” when he saw her clueless expression.

45 minutes later they sat at the dinner table, deviding the food from the containers. Jack had ordered something that looked like flat bread with different colored spicy dips. It was delicious and very different from everything Grace had ever tasted.

“Do you have any food allergies?” she asked when they were done eating and she watched him throw away the trash.

“No, but I hate fish and spinach.”

“I don't like fish either, but I hate red beets.”

“So, no fish in this house,” Jack snickered and cleared his throat when he looked to the boxes in the hallway. “Where would you like me to bring them?”

“I can manage myself,” she replied and wanted to get to work but Jack stopped her.

“I want to avoid going to the café every morning. How about we go grocery shopping and then take care of your stuff?”

Two hours later they were back home with an insane amount of food for a two people household. But Grace had insisted to stack his counters and cupboards with enough food to survive a month long fallout if necessary.

Maybe not the worst idea as Jack usually only bought food if he knew he would eat it within two days. He needed to change his routines, now that he shared his kitchen with someone else.

“Could you make me a list of your favorite dishes?” Grace requested and just closed the filled fridge.

“Sure.”

“When do you usually come home from work? I want dinner to be ready when you come home.”

“Mh, so traditional,” Jack murmured and looked down at his phone with a frown. Was London more important than she again?

“It's my job as your wife,” Grace snapped, grabbed one of her moving boxes, and carrying it upstairs into her ''realm''. She wanted to slam the door shut behind her, but cutting him off from her on their first day of marriage was not the way to go. So Grace left the door open and started unpacking the boxes. Her beloved snow globes she had started to collect when she had still been in kindergarden. She needed storage space, shelves without a back piece so that the light could still shine in.

Ugh, she had just snapped at her husband that she could manage herself and a second later she would have to ask him for help. Grace hated being the little Omega wifey that needed the okay of her husband when she wanted as much as sneeze.

Jack stood by the door with a box in his hands, labelled with _clothes_.

“I'm not expecting you to be my cook, Grace.”

“Maybe not you but society does. I married into a prestigious family. I don't want anyone to have reason to look down on me.”

Jack put the box down and entered the room.

“I won't let anyone look down on you. You are my wife. Under my protection. Society has nothing to say in our marriage. This is our privacy and nothing public.”

He sounded like an OmegaRights-activist but Grace knew that he could never allow himself to be open about his thinking as crown prince of one of Flint's most prominent families.

“I will need shelves in here,” she changed topics, “and a desk.”

“I can organize everything you want until tomorrow evening. And until then, I'm home at five pm most days, sometimes a bit later if traffic is a bitch.”

“And what would be your all time favorite meal?” Grace wanted to know and looked down at her favorite snow globe in her hands. It was useless to unpack them now without having anywhere to put them. Grace didn't want to risk something happening to her little treasures. She wrapped it back into the news papers she had used to keep it safe, and put it back into the box.

“I don't know. I have several. What's yours?”

“Spinach-feta-quiche.”

Oops, he thought, he had unknowingly excluded her favorite meal from their mutual menu. Great.

“Anythings else?” he asked, hoping that maybe her second choice would hit home.

“Irish stew, curry-peanut-coconut chicken, lamb fillet in herb crust and rosemary potatoes.”

“Sounds all very elaborately,” Jack huffed.

Was he moaning about her cooking skills because she was cooking too ...good? He didn't even know! Maybe her ambitions were much higher than her actual level of skill or maybe she could actually manage to make those meals without fail. He didn't know how she cooked and yet he was arching his eyebrows and ...looked down on her.

Grace took a deep breath. She wanted to scream but remained quiet. She should just swallow it down and call it a day. It has been a very long day and she was hurting because she wasn't with her family anymore, and she was angry because she was stuck with a man who didn't seem to have too much in common with her.

It was ridiculous that he actually thought that their marriage was not a public affair. As soon as they left the house they would have eyes glued on them. She could already hear the whispers behind her back in two months, three months, a year. “Why isn't she pregnant yet? She's so old. There must be something wrong with her. Maybe she's infertile. He'll regret his decision by now. She's not a good wife.”

Grace clenched her teeth together and took deep breaths through her nose.

“This has been a long day. I will bring all boxes with your clothes into your closet and then work for an hour or two before going to bed, alright?”

Grace nodded, not able to talk with her clenched teeth. She would spend her time with putting her clothes away and probably take a bath to relax before going to bed too. Taking a bath?, she thought and saw from the corner of her eye that Jack had left. That would mean getting naked and staying naked for a longer period of time. Did she trust him enough to let her guard down like that? Grace laughed unamused over her own stupidity. She had no other choice and Jack had made it more than clear that he wasn't a dick-driven Alpha.

 

The night was much like their first one. Grace tried to avoid eye contact with him as soon as they were in the bedroom together. Jack changed out of his suit and into his pj's in his walk-in closet and sighed heavily when he came back into the room. He still had his phone in his hands and now Grace had enough.

“Do you ever put that thing down or are you glued to it? I'm impressed you managed to ignore it during our Uncollaring,” she snapped and crawled under the blanket. Jack stopped in his tracks and glared at her for the first time. Grace tried to hold his gaze but failed after mere seconds. She could feel the air simmer with his anger and swore that she heard something similar to a dog's growl coming from his direction.

“I understand that this is all new to you and maybe your father's company didn't need as much attention as ours does and unless you can produce 6 Million Dollars per day, I will keep my phone close to me,” he said, dangerously low and continued to walk over to the bed.

Grace bit her tongue, desperately trying not to say what had come to her mind as soon as she had learned that Jack had agreed on marrying her.

“My father's company is faltering and even at the highest point my father's firm wasn't even half as successful as yours. I know that I'm poor for your standards … But even though my father worked day and night to provide for us, he was never as addicted to his phone as you are.”  
And there she said what she had so desperately tried to leave unsaid. Jack made a show of putting his phone away and sneered an “Are you happy now?” before he sat down on the edge of the bed, leaving the poor-part of her argument untouched.

Grace wanted to scream out a ''No'' but only shook her head, knowing he couldn't see her while taking off his watch. She slid deeper into her pillows, turned her back towards Jack, and curled up into a ball, waiting for him to turn off the lights.

But before that happened, Jack let out a heavy sigh and looked at her over his shoulder.

“Grace, please look at me.”

She contemplated pretending she was already sleeping but no human being could fall asleep so quickly and not obeying him was disrespectful. So she turned around and looked up at Jack's tired face. There were deep lines on it he hadn't had this morning.

“I don't want our marriage to start like this. Last night our shares lost almost 20 % of their worth and that costs us Millions of Dollars. I told you this morning that we had mild troubles at London Stock Exchange but over the day they turned worse. It's bad timing that it happened on a day where I couldn't be in the office to take care of it and the day right after our wedding.”

Grace sat up straighter and pulled her knees to her chest.

“So you take care of the financial sector of your father's company?” she asked silently.

“Not directly. I'm more on the development side of things.”

“Then why is it your job to fix this?”

Good question. “I'm one of the major stockholders and my surname is Hunter. I'm first in line of succession in the company and that's why people think I have the answer to everything.”

Grace slowly nodded and smoothed down a few wrinkles in the blanket over her feet. She knew she should probably apologize for being snappy and angry at him, basically not showing her best side to him like her mother had hammered inside her head only yesterday morning.

“I will go back to work tomorrow morning. Do you want me to wake you?”

“At what time do you have to leave?” she asked after she had lifted her head quickly and stared at him slightly shocked. One day and he would leave her alone already? Well, if the situation at the company was really as dramatic as he said it was, they probably needed him more than her.

“8 am.”

So early? Grace lifted her eyebrows but said nothing. Maybe she could already take care of the garden a bit while he was gone.

“And I'll be gone a bit longer than usual to get you the shelves you want for your room.”

“I can just get them online. I have a laptop and a smart phone, too.”

“If you want to do it yourself, than please do,” Jack yawned, “I'm happy for everything I don't have to do in addition to my work.”

God forbid he did something for his _wife_! Grace said nothing more this night. She only nodded and turned back to how she had lain before, facing away from him. Jack turned off the light on his side, looked at her in the darkness around them and carefully moved closer to wrap his arm around her waist like he had done last night.

Yesterday she hadn't minded and he had liked her scent in his nose the whole night. And now didn't seem to be any different. Grace scooped a bit backwards, pressing her back and butt against him. Jack needed to distract himself when the swell of her ass moved against his groin. This day had been a turmoil already. Getting hard and potentially scaring her out of his arms was definitely counter productive.

It worked and they managed to spend a peaceful night together.

When he woke up the next morning from the merciless beeping of his alarm clock, he was alone in bed. A fit of panic raked through him and he shot up within the blink of an eye. His heart was ponding when she wasn't in her closet or the bathroom. The door of her realm was open wide and the room empty.

Had she left him because of yesterday? No note, her things were still there, but where was his wife?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://www.food.com/recipe/ethiopian-spicy-beef-stew-key-wat-436458


	10. One night at a time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo, explicitness starts now (the little The Sims-pun was intended, yes)

Oh God, he thought and in his head he could already hear his father's screams that he was a disgrace for the name Hunter and that he had dissappointed not only him but his entire family. A day of marriage and his wife had already left him! He was so done!

The smell of freshly brewed coffee suddenly filled his lungs and he walked downstairs into the kitchen.

“Good morning,” Grace said with a polite smile and a perfectly braided updo.

“Good morning,” he muttered a bit dumbfounded.

Jack watched her fill his _I'm not saying I'm Batman,I'm just saying no one has ever seen me and Batman in a room together_ -mug with coffee and slide it over to him.

“Since when are you awake?” he asked and ran a hand over his tired face when his heartbeat slowly returned to normal.

She looked at her wrist watch and answered, “An hour.”

6 o'clock? “Do you usually get up this early?”

“I wanted to make breakfast so I had to get up early enough.”

“You don't have to do this for me,” Jack groaned tiredly and took a long sip of the coffee. The hot black liquid warmed him from inside and woke him back from the living dead. God, he hated mornings and especially mornings with a fucking heart attack!

“Don't be so self-centered. The weather forecast said something about rain this afternoon and I wanted to plan out the garden before that.”

Oh. Good, she had lost nothing of her snappyness from yesterday, he thought and groaned in delight when she set down a plate with pancakes in front of his nose. She might not need to make him breakfast but he would be an idiot if he refused her kindness.

He needed to remember that this wouldn't be daily routine. On every other day he would walk into the bathroom like a zombie at this time and not sit on one if the bar stools in the kitchen and stuff his face with the best pancakes he had ever tasted.

“It's delicious,” he moaned with a full mouth and washed the food down with another sip of the coffee.

Grace couldn't help but smile smugly because she had proven his huff from yesterday wrong. When his eyes fell on her watch his almost choked.

“Fuck, I'm going to be late.” He quicly rose from the bar stool, stuffen another pancake in his mouth and hurried upstairs to jump under the shower. Grace was left alone in the kitchen with a half empty plate, three-quater empty mug of coffee, and a fantastic view of the sun slowly rising at the horizont.

Before Jack came back downstairs, dressed and every last hair groomed like he was on his way to a photo shoot, Grace had already picked out a pen and paper and her white fedora hat to shield from the sun and, for the first time, entered the garden.

The smell of flowers, the noises of bees and birds, and the warm early sommer sun warming her face, was heavenly. Big weeping willows provided shadow and strong branches for a swing to be attached. She had always dreamed of a swing in her garden. Grace walked around the big grass space and sketched out where she wanted herbs, a magnolia tree with Chinese wisteria woven into it, lilac, apple and peach trees, maybe even oranges if she found the perfect spot for it.

“I'm leaving!” Grace heard from the house. Jack stood by the terrace door and shielded his eyes from the sun when he looked at her.

She nodded and waved him goodbye before returning to mentally create vegetable beds and filling them with zucchini, melons, who technically weren't vegetables just like tomatoes and strawberries, salads, cucumbers, pumpkins, and peppers. She usually would've grown her own spinach too but thanks to her husband's completely unfounded dislike of it, she would not do it. Hopefully she wasn't the only one who was making sacrifices to make things between them work smoothly.

* * *

 

* * *

A week later, Grace had already made herself more comfortable in Jack's house. Every evening he came home he found more things that had changed. There was a doormat on both sides of the terrace door. Next to it stood muddy shoes, and a bit higher on the wall hung her white hat she never entered the garden without with.

Grace was making him coffee in the morning but refrained from making him breakfast. It just wasn't worth it because she was just tired the whole day and he hardly had time for eating in peace. Either he wolved it down or he left half of the food on the plate before running upstairs with hushed curses on his lips.

She had told Juliana about his chaotic mornings via speaker on her phone but she had only laughed knowingly. “Maxim does the same. I never understood why Alphas don't just decide to go to work later if they are all late risers.”

“Getting up late means earning money late,” Grace had replied and continued digging in the mud, preparing the holes in the ground for the young trees she expected to be delivered tomorrow.

“And how is it to be married this far apart from hating his morning routine?”

Grace stopped for a second and looked to her phone laying next to her. “Ehm, good.”

Juliana was quiet for a second. “You haven't ...yet?”

“He had a lot of stress with the stock market crash and I only started taking the pill this morning.”

Before her friend could say anything more, a child started screaming in the background. Juliana sighed, “Willem woke up and that means it's lunch time. We'll talk soon. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Grace prepared dinner like usual and Jack complimented her cooking skills like every night when he came home. She had soon picked up another of his daily routines, his afterwork drink. Jack had a bottle of scotch in the cabinet bar next to the armchair, Grace's favorite place outside her realm. But because Grace wasn't stupid she soon started not only preparing dinner but also a tumbler with his drink.

He had lifted his eyebrows, thanked her, and kissed her with a smile. They talked about the stock problems of the company of his family and he wanted to know if her garden project was going well.

“Yes, tomorrow I'll get the young trees and then I'll be done with the biggest changes.”

Jack listened, making an interested face even though Grace was almost certain that he wasn't interested in the least. She had the confirmation when he desperately tried to hide his yawn. Grace didn't say anything but informed him that she had had a long day and would go to bed early. It rid him of the necessity to say it himself, because he would've probably stayed up a few more hours. Grace had seen him nod off on the couch for a split second the third day of their marriage and had asked him if he didn't want to go to bed if he was tired but he had only sneered that he was too young to go to bed before 10 pm.

Grace lured him to bed with her, making it appear like he was just doing her a favor if he accompanied her. In the bathroom Jack found a new addition to her side of the wash table. A little round plastic container with 28 slots labelled with MTWTFSS four times going around the whole perimeter. One for every day of a Beta's cycle. She would fill it up with another 28 before changing to the Omega pills. It currently held 27 yellow pills. The one for today, Friday, was already missing. Jack couldn't keep himself from thinking dirty. She was on birth control and if he was to believe Dr Olivier it was safe to do whatever he wanted with her from now on.

Finally, he wouldn't have to will his erections away if he heard her moan in her sleep or when she pressed her ass against him. And he also wouldn't have to jerk off in the shower every morning so that he wouldn't go to work, feeling, literally, on edge.

When he joined Grace in bed a few minutes later, she was just about to turn around for their usual sleeping position which she LOVED by now, when Jack stopped her with an arm around her waist and a wicked gleam in his green eyes. What the hell was going on?

“We've been married for a week now and it's time to take it a step further,” he growled lowly, giving her goosebumps.

Grace swallowed thickly when her eyes turned a bit wider. She had just started taking her first pill of birth control this morning and he already wanted more? Well, he was her husband and it was his right to take her, she told herself but she was still slightly panicking.

Jack took off her sleeping shirt before he crawled over her body, kissing down a trail from her scent gland, making her shiver involuntarily, over her bosom to the inside of her left thigh. Little beads of sweat formed on her forehead and over her upper lip. He carefully pushed her panties down her legs, his eyes locked with hers, when he slowly let his warm hands stroke up her bare legs again. His stubbled cheeks scratched her soft skin and send heavenly showers down her spine.

She was going to lose her virginity tonight, she suddenly realized, after this there was no turning back. Her heart started racing, full panic setting in and even increasing when Jack started leaning his head closer to her pussy.

“You're not gonna bite me down there, do you?” Her horrified tone almost made him laugh.

“No, I'm not.” Jack kissed the inside of her thigh up, even closer to her crotch. He hoped she would relax soon. Her panic was making her scent take on a sour note and he'd rather not have that on his tongue for the rest of this night.

A shocked little gasp escaped her lips when Jack darted his tongue out and licked along her folds. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back into her pillows. Jack smiled smugly, smelling how her panic and discomfort ebbed away and was replaced with desire and arousal. Her pussy became wetter by the second, her body producing enough slick for him to savor.

He wouldn't deflower her tonight. This night was for her pleasure, not his. He didn't want to spoil it with pain and blood right from the beginning. Jack took deep breaths and loved her scent. She smelled even better, although Jack had thought it impossible. He moaned against her cunt, making her shiver from the vibrations.

He moved his hand up to her leaking pussy and spread her folds to get an even better access to her clit and opening. Jack's cock was hard, rubbing against the sheets under his when he started to suck on the little bundle of nerves. Grace's lustful sobs and mewls filled the air and stroked his ego like it was a needy cat. He wanted to hear it every night from this day on!

Grace felt her skin blush from head to toe. Her hands clenched around the sheets next to her hips. She needed to hold onto something, otherwise she would lose herself in this feeling he was giving her. His tongue on the most delicate part of her body, hot and wet, made her lose all inhibitions. She moaned out her pleasure, letting him know what felt especially good.

Grace opened her eyes and looked down at him when she felt his big hand, that had held down her hips to this moment, snake it's way up to her breasts to pinch her sensitive, erect nipples. The short cry she let out made him stop.

“Too hard?” he mumbled against her pink flesh. Grace couldn't even form an answer in her head, let alone utter a sentence so she just nodded a tiny nod and lay her hand over his applying a little pressure to show him how much she could bear.

Jack sucked hard on her clit and massaged her breast with a little less pressure than before. Grace's hands shot down between her legs, weaving her fingers into his slightly damp hair. They held eye contact when Jack started lapping at her entrance. With the hand he wasn't massaging her breast with, he kept her folds apart. The tip of his nose pressed against her clit when he circled his tongue around her entrance before darting it inside her.

Grace's head fell back again with a deep moan. Her fingers clenched to fists in his hair, keeping him in place between her shaking thighs. God, this was heaven. But suddenly he stopped. When she wanted to object and tell him to keep doing whatever he was doing, she was already silenced with his lips on hers.

She tasted her own slick on him, driving her insane. Jack still had one hand between her spread legs, making little circular motions over her clit but he didn't apply half the friction she would've needed to come. And she wanted to come.

“Please,” Grace whispered against his lips, begging him with her eyes not to let her wait any longer. Jack dived back in for a kiss, sucking on her lower lip when he carefully inserted a finger inside her. His thumb worked on her clit while he slowly pumped the finger in and out of her. She was tight around his digit, her inner walls griping onto the finger like they didn't want him to pull it out ever again.

Jack had his eyes open when he kissed Grace to make sure he would see the first sign if she felt uncomfortable or was in pain. His boxers were soaked through with his precum leaking from the tip of his cock. Grace was too lost in the sensations he was making her feel to pay it any attention. Suddenly her breath caught in her throat, her eyes flew open and her hips bucked against his hand. Her inner walls tightened even more around his finger before he felt them spasm as her orgasm washed over her. Grace whole body shook, her thighs closed around his hand, her finger nails digging into his scalp, her mouth opening in a silent scream.

After a long moment, she collapsed completely limp under him. Her eyes closed when she desperately tried to catch her breath. Jack had expected her to be loud when she came. But she hadn't even as much as sighed out her pleasure. She had been relatively loud during him eating her out but her orgasms has almost been completely silent.

Grace pressed her face against his neck, sucking at his skin under his ear and sighing when she took a deep breath and was completely overwhelmed by the mix of the different smells of her slick, his precum and their sweats mingled together.

She felt exhausted like she had ran three rounds in a stadium but it wasn't over yet. No time to take a break or ask for a time-out. He hadn't had his share yet.

“I'll be right back,” Jack whispered and kissed her tenderly before he got up and wanted to go into the bathroom.

“Wait, aren't you …? I mean, we ...ehm?”

Jack turned around, the wet spot and long, hard shape in his boxers automatically catching her eye. She swallowed thickly and bit her lower lip with a mix of excitement and anxiousness.

“I thought you were tired,” he smiled and left before he could reconsider his plan for tonight. No blood, no pain.

Jack needed a shower and had about – he looked down to the hard-on in his boxers – 10 seconds before he would explode. Just as he had stepped under the hot spray of water, he saw something from the corner of his eye. Grace stood behind him in the shower stall, naked and still with a hot flush all over her skin. She looked a bit lost but had determination in her eyes.

“Can I help you?” he asked with a smirk over his shoulder, seeing her slowly close the distance between them. As he turned around and let his eyes wander over here exposed body, his cock twitched again. By now his balls were uncomfortably tight. He _needed_ his release and with her in here, he didn't even have to picture her from memory. She was right in front of him.

Grace swallowed thickly, trying not to stare at him. The steam of the hot shower covered her skin in a thin layer that made her shiver. She had had her orgasm thanks to his mouth and gorgeous hands, so it was only fair if she returned the favor.

She remembered googling her fingers bloody as soon as she had left Woodlark. Now nobody was controlling her browser history and she could finally find out what she would have to do to pleasure an Alpha if she wasn't an aphrodisiac on two legs during her Heat.

Oral sex had been at the top of the list and this was what she was going to do ...for the first time and hopefully not to her husband's total dissappointment. Just as Grace wanted to sink down on her knees in front of him, he caught her by the shoulders.

“You don't have to.”

“But I want to.” Not really, but that was the answer she was sure society was expecting from a married Omega: Doing everything to please her Alpha.

“But I don't,” he replied with determination in his voice. Grace frowned at him. Had the internet been so wrong?

“I am a burnt child in that regard,” Jack explained, “My second last girlfriend had a grudge on me one night and let me suffer via biting me so hard that I had to see a doctor. You are definitely not the reason I don't want oral sex, Grace.”

Her mouth formed a silent ''Oh'' and she nodded. So, her fear that he could bite her ''downstairs'' was obviously present on both sides. But he was clearly aroused so, they were going to do something about it.

“Give me your hand,” Jack whispered rasply and dipped his head to suck on her delicate neck. Her sigh right next to his ear made him moan throatily. His fingers closed around her wrist and pulled her under the water spray with him. When he guided her hand down to his cock, she momentarily froze and wanted to pull her hand away.

Jack stopped immediately and lifted his head again to look into her face. “If you don't want to, you don't have to.”

“No, that's not it. I just don't know what to do,” she admitted with red cheeks and looked to the side. He lay his hands on her hips and pulled her closer, his erection pressing against her lower belly. It felt so hard and hot, she thought and let out a moan when he started purring really lowly. The vibrations travelling through their bodies was pushing her back into a deep pit of arousal. Amazing how a purr could comfort in the one second and arouse in the other, sometimes like now even at the same time.

She leaned against his warm body, the water running down in long strings over his back and eventually dripping from his firm ass. Grace's hands worked on their own when she moved them over the muscles of his sides, letting them travel down a bit but stopping at his hip bone.

“Your hand,” Jack purred and guided her right hand to wrap around his throbbing length between their bodies. As her fingers closed around his cock, he continued to purr and moved her hand up and down in an increasing rhythm until she had picked up what he wanted from her.

Grace had her eyes closed, letting her other senses take over. The feeling of his puffed breath on her shoulder close to her scent gland, the weight of his cock in her hand, the hotness of his skin, the veins she felt when she moved up and down.

“Tighter,” Jack commanded and started groping her ass. He wanted nothing more than to turn her around, press her against the glass wall of the shower stall and fuck her from behind. No blood,no pain, he told himself over and over again.

Grace followed his order and moved her other hand from his hip to his cum-heavy balls, squeezing them lightly and making him thurst into her hand like this.

His drawn out growl echoed from the walls and send shivers down her spine. If he had been alone in the shower he wouldn't have developed a knot but she was with him and her scent was affecting him. Jack leaned his head back and let out another growl when she stroked her thumb over his dripping tip. His knot started swelling at the base of his cock.

Grace opened her eyes now and looked down to what she was doing. She wasn't sure why but the sight of her delicate hands around his member turned her on so insanely that she could feel a gush of slick run down the inside of her legs. The smell immediately filled the whole bathroom and let his knot develop to it's full size. Jack pushed her with her back against the glass wall, planted his lips on hers and thrust harder into her hand. Her grip tightened around the shaft but when she wanted to move her other hand from his balls to his rock hard knot, he bet her to it.

Jack squeezed the knot as tightly as he could to mimmick what it would feel like if he pushed it inside her and came with a feral noise that literally shook Grace to the core. She almost got weak in the knees when she came for a second time tonight, even without his hands or lips even near her pussy. No, only from the sound, the scents, and the feeling of hot, milky liquid spurted all over her hands and belly, covering her skin in his cum and scent.

Jack was back to his senses quicker than her, taking a step back, back under the hot water and pulling her with him. Her steps were uncoordinated and clumsy. Jack turned her around, pressed his chest against her back, and washed his seed off her belly while Grace leaned her temple against his cheek and sighed contently.

If she had known how good it felt to be married, she would've chosen the first Alpha who had presented himself to her. But all the waiting had given her him, she thought in her lust-clouded brain and smiled like an idiot. Grace felt her exhaustion crawl back into her bones and leaned even heavier against Jack who was still washing off the last milky traces of his orgasm from her skin. He knew about Alphas who ''scented'' their Omegas deliberately like this but why should he cover her in his cum when they were alone and her scent was way too good to alter it with his own.

He turned off the shower after he had cleaned them both to his meticulous satisfaction. He wrapped her into a fluffy towel and brought her back into their bedroom. Her bedshirt and panties still lay on the floor by the bed. He needed new boxers as his previous ones were still soaked through. Jack tugged a completely satisfied, blissfull Grace into bed, dipped into his walk-in closet, and returned only a second later dressed on a new pair of boxers.

She had sat up again, putting on her panties and looking around for her pug-sleepshirt, unsuccessfully. Jack crawled into bed, kissed her shoulder from behind, and told her in a whisper that she didn't need a shirt. He would simply pull the blanket over them and pull her into his arms for the night.

Grace turned her head to look at him from the corner of her eye and nodded tiredly. She could say with complete certainty that she had never been this content in her entire life. Jack turned off the lights and when she snuggled into his chest, one thing came back to her mind right before she drifted into a deep slumber.

“Why didn't you fuck me?”

Jack kissed the crown of her head and simply murmured, “One night at a time, Grace.”

She had fallen asleep even before he had answered it, completely content and happy.

 


	11. Affirmation

“Fuck,” was the first thing Grace heard the next morning. Her human radiater pulled his arm away from her waist and got up hastily. “Why didn't you wake me? I'll be late!”

“It's Saturday and you just woke me, Jack,” Grace groaned and felt him stop moving immediately. A second later he slumbed back into the pillows and pulled her back against his chest. She sighed with a smile on her lips when he kissed her neck right under her right ear.

“How did you sleep?”

“I still am,” she replied and turned around to face him. The sky was a faint shade of pink giving everything a soft, almost vintagy look.

“I never noticed you could articulate yourself so flawlessly while being fast asleep.”

“I'm full of surprises,” she murmured and closed her eyes again with the intentions to fall asleep again but Jack had other plans.

“I know it's a terrible prejudice that Alphas need affirmation of their performance and a firm stroking of their ego the morning after but ...” He pulled her closer and kissed the crown of her head, “How was it for you last night?”

Grace smirked into her cheek. “I don't know yet.”

“Shall I ask you again in a minute, or?”

Her laugh was only a snicker against his chest. “No, but I might need a repetition before I can form a verdict.”

She winked at him and felt a deep moan rise inside his chest.

“I think I can manage that,” he purred and moved to lay over her, kissing her sweet lips and moaning when he felt her tongue dart out to meet his and her legs slowly wrap themselves around his hips.

Mh, maybe he could take it a step further? At least his initial need wasn't as big as last night and so he _could_ be patient enough to try.

Suddenly an unnerving beeping of her phone pulled him out of his thoughts.

“My no-baby-alarm,” Grace groaned and loosened her legs again. She reached over to her bedside table and showed him the display. It really said ''No Baby'' before Grace hit the okay-button and silenced her phone like that.

“You have to get off of me so that I can take my cute little pill and we can continue at this point.”

“We could also take advantage of the extra hours we have to continue without interruption,” he suggested and leaned down to kiss her again but Grace turned her head to the side.

“But I don't know if I then have to take the new time as the 24 hour mark or still stay with the original time. It's only my second pill. I don't want to mess this up. I'll be back in two seconds. You'll be able to wait that long, won't you?”

She was right and he behaved like a teenager with his first girlfriend. With a long groan he rolled onto his back and watched her, still in nothing but her panties, disappear through the door. He counted slowly; One, Two, and she was actually back with the pill in her hand.

“See.”

He laughed and watched Grace swallow the pill with a few gulps of water from her bedside water bottle before she pressed her lips back on his again. His hands guided her to straddle him, moving down to her hips and slightly making her draw slow circles with her pelvis. Grace looked down at his broad chest, letting her fingers glide through his dark chest hair that thinned down to a little trail that disappeared under the waistband of his boxers. On his left ribs she saw a few dots connected with thin lines tattooed on his skin.

“What does it mean?” she asked and drew the upside down Y-shape. He had already seen it a couple of times but had never come around to actually ask him about the meaning.

“The star constellation of my zodiac sign, cancer.”

“You believe in astonomy?” she asked sceptically.

“Yes, because if you are talking about zodiac signs and all the hokum about stars affecting our mood is astrology, which I don't believe in.”

His thumbs stroked her tender skin over her hip bone.

“Any why do you have a tattoo? Don't Alphas usually stick to gracing their skin with scars from their past battles and not paint it?”

Jack laughed and her whole body shook with his. “It's not like I have a pink-purple unicorn tattooed all over my chest and I do have scars ''from my past battles''.”

Yes, he did. One big one on the inside of his left upper arm, one at his left calf and a third giant one on his right side from a bar fight Jack had shortly explained to him. Something about another Alpha talking shit about his little brother when they had still been at Harvard.

The other two major scars were other injuries he had not talked about. He also had a scar that devided his left brow in two, a boxing trophy he had called it with a smirk. The same smirk he sported now that he let his eyes wander over her exposed body over him. The pink light made her look -no matter how cheesy it sounded- like an angel.

He loved her morning hair, always wild and more importantly open. Yes, her updos were perfect and looked great but he couldn't run his fingers through it when he wanted. He had to wait until night when she had pulled out the millions of bobby pins that started laying around EVERYWHERE (even in his office! She never entered his office! How did they get there?!) and had unbraided her strands before he could finally dive in.

Right now her hair was in waves, locks, was straight in other places or just a fuzzy ball. He liked her imperfections much more than when she was dresses to the nines and looked like she was about to have a White House dinner.

“What?” she asked and frowned down at him. There was a slight worry in her eyes he quickly kissed away.

“You're beautiful,” he whispered against her lips and grinded his groin against her pussy. Her moan travelled through his whole body. The harder he got and caused more friction with his grinding, the wetter she got above him.

A few seconds into the grinding the scent of her arousal filled the room, driving Jack with full speed into sex-mode. He rolled them over so that he was on top again, moaning when she threaded her fingers through his messy hair and wrapped her legs back around his hips.

They kissed for what felt like hours, grinding against each other until Jack broke the kiss and moved down to her exposed, hard nipples. Grace watched him with hooded eyes as he slowly closed his lips around her right nipple and flicked his tongue over the little pink peak. Her head fell back with a soft sigh but she kept the eye contact with him.

God, she loved his eyes, she thought in the back of her head as she lightly scratched her nails over his scalp. The vibrations when he moaned around her flesh travelled all the way through her body, cauing her to curl her toes from the sensation.

“Would you like an exact copy of last night or can I get a bit creative?” he asked and wiggled his eyebrows with a smirk. Her breath caught in her throat when she heard that.

“Why? What was wrong with yesterday?”

Jack crawled up again and kissed her worried frown away.

“Nothing,” he whispered against her lips, “but maybe we can already take it a step further.”

A step further? Defloration? Jack instantly felt her tense up beneath him.

“I promise, I'll try not to hurt you, Grace. I want you to enjoy this as much as I do,” Jack calmed her and kissed her tenderly until her muscles relaxed under his stroking fingertips and softly moving lips.

“So, yes or no?”

“Would no mean that we stop?”

“No, it would mean that we do the same as yesterday.”

C'mon, be brave, she told herself, he promised. Grace told him to be creative and sincerely hoped that he wouldn't break her trust. Jack smiled wickedly and kissed a trail down the center of her body until his nose was nuzzled in her wet crotch.

Her scent was the best aprodisiac of the world. He loved it, wanted to fill it in a bottle and keep in his pocket until he was old and grey. Grace lifted her hips to help him pull down her panties. Jack let his eyes feast in her completely naked body in front of him, her glistening folds, her flushed skin, the way her breasts moved up and down in the rhythm of her hitched breathing.

It caught in her throat and unloaded itself with a long moan when he tasted her juices like he had done last night. His cock twitched, pressed between his lower belly and the foot of the bed. His grinding soon wasn't enough for him anymore. He needed to have her, to pump his seed inside her like his biology dictated.

With a fluid move of his hand he pulled off his boxers and spread Grace's tender thighs with his hips. Suddenly something was missing. Her breathing. Jack lifted his gaze to her face to see a horrified, flushed expression staring down between her legs.

It's so big, it will never fit, she thought over and over again, her brain screaming at her that she needed to brace herself for the pain, her instincts telling her that this was the most natural thing in her biology, everything making her tensing up again and eventually making her forget to breathe.

Jack pressed his face into the crook of her neck and sucked hard on her scent gland. He made sure to leave at least a hickey to remember. Her little shocked breath when the tip of his cock came in contact with her entrance gave him little goosebumps. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders when she buried her face in his shoulder.

Grace forced herself to forget everything around her. Just breathe, relax and trust him!

Jack snaked one arm under her spine and used the other to hook her left leg around his hip.

“We'll do this slowly, okay?” he whispered next to her ear, the warmth and wetness of his breath dampening her skin. She nodded almost involuntarily out of pure reaction than actual will.

Grace felt his other hand between her legs, spreading wetness over her entrance that wasn't her own, his precum. He gently pressed the tip of his cock against her opening and heard a whimper from her. He purred instantly, calming her down before she could tense up in expectation of pain. Jack had actually wanted to refrain from purring because some courts still argued about the ability of consenting while being under the influence of a purr.

“If you want me to stop just say a word and I will.”

She shook her head and moved her heal to rest on his tailbone, applying minimal pressure. If she wanted to push him in, it would be even better because she knew the best what hurt and what didn't.

Her speed was faster than he had expected. Jack stopped when he heard a little hiss from her no matter her guidance. She was so fucking tight that he could've come right here and now.

Only when he felt her muscled relax again he moved forward inch by inch until he was completely sunken in inside her pussy. Her mouth was open, her brows knit together when she tried to grow accustomed to the weight on her body and the pressure inside her.

It felt ...good. For a second there had been a little pain but he had stopped, reading the tiniest sign of her discomfort.

“That went smoothly,” he chuckled and kissed her neck up to her ear and nibbled at her earlope. A quiet sigh escaped her lips and nudged her head against his like a love-starved cat. She moved her other leg around his hips and stroked her hands up and down his muscular back. A satisfied purr from her made the corners of his mouth twitch upward. No blood, no pain, after all.

Grace moved her hips under him, providing a bit of friction to coat his cock on her slick. She had never been this wet outside her Heat and her own scent was turning her on even more. Grace closed her eyes and started lightly gracing her teeth over his skin. She would've never bitten him but the animalistic side inside her said that if she was his to bite, he was hers just as much.

Jack's hips snapped forwards by the feeling of her teeth on his shoulder. She digged her nails into his back and let out a long groan. He rocked back and forth carefully until her little mewls turned more and more lustful. Jack hoisted his upper body up and rested his forehead against hers. Their mingled breaths mixed with each other panting against their faces, his movements got braver, her breathing heavier.

Her legs wrapped tighter around his hips, keeping him close enough for his belly to rub against hers. It was a strangely arousing feeling. Grace wanted more.

She reached up and pulled his lips down to hers. His thrusts became harder as soon as their tongues met. Her moans and his growls were added to the sound of wet skin hitting wet skin in a steadily increasing rhythm. Jack felt his knot swell at the base of his cock. Time to loosen her thighs and keep a bit of distance before he could be tempted to knot her today.

Grace made a little unhappy mewl and wanted to pull him closer again, feel his warmth on her skin, his breath against her face, but Jack caught her wrists and pushed them into the mattress. He shut her up with his lips, swallowing every possible protest and replacing it with lustful moans.

She tried getting more of his cock back inside her and even bit his lower lip when he still wouldn't give her what she wanted. Jack pulled back immediately and tested for blood. Grace had a fierce look in her eyes when he grinded against him, desperate for the orgasm she could already taste.

“You seriously bit me?” he breathed incredulous and looked down to his clean fingertips.

“Jack, fuck me,” was the only thing she replied. A fit of anger shot through him but Jack could swallow it down. _No blood, no pain_  shouldn't end because she was desperate from him.

His knot was hard and his balls felt tight. Grace's internal muscles clenched around his cock to lure him back into moving, pleasuring her, making her catch that mocking orgasm that was always just a tiny bit out of reach. He had already almost made her come with his mouth and now she needed to wait again!

“Please,” she begged and lay her hands on his cheeks.

Jack growled throatily, sending shivers down her spine and creating goosebumps on her arms and legs. He grabbed her hips with one hands and wrapped the fingers of his other around his knot, squeezing tightly in time with Grace's pussy clenching around his cock.

In a few weeks he would push it inside all the way, hook them together, pump and keep his seed inside her. The thought alone pushed him over the edge. His cock erupted halfway inside her when he thrust in his hand, letting out an animalistic mating sound. His growl and the feeling of hot, gooey liquid filling her pussy felt strangely familiar although it was her first time as if Grace's biology was telling her that this was the definition of perfection.

She arched her back, closed her eyes and revelled in the showers of pleasure that ran through her veins and body. Jack let go of his knot when the last spurts of cum had ebbey away and her spasming pussy around his cock grew still again.

Grace relaxed with a long, deep moan. Jack watched her flushed, sweat covered skin move heavily under her rapid breathing. A satisfied smile tugged on the corners of her lips. She looked even more beautiful with her bed-and-freshly-fucked-hair and that blissfull expression on her face.

Jack dipped down his head and kissed her smiling mouth. She laughed against his lips and opened her eyes to look up into his.

“Yes, your performance is fantastic,” she snickered and watched his face first twist into a confused frown before he remembered.

“Thank you. Years of practice alone and with friendly assistence of long-gone lovers brought me to this level.”

The mention of his past made her cringe internally. Grace suddenly couldn't help asking herself how she was doing in comparison to his ex-girlfriends. She looked to the side and chewed her lower lip. The sudden change in her demeanor was instantly noticed by him.

Jack rolled onto his back and smoothed down his cowlick. “And you were fantastic yourself.”

“For a virgin,” Grace added in an almost disappointed tone.

Jack turned to her, pulled her closer by her waist and directed her to look into his eyes.

“No, fantastic even though you had still been a virgin," he said with a wink before he continued in a stern, almost threatening tone, “And if you bite me one more time, I will get up and leave you in whatever state you are. I don't like being bitten no matter for what reason. If anyone here bites, it's me. Understood?” When she nodded wide-eyed, he kissed her tenderly on the tip of her nose and left to take a shower.

Grace didn't feel well. Not physically but more like she was supposed to feel lucky that she had met an Alpha who threatened her with leaving her high and dry rather then punished her with anything more severe. Then again was leaving her desperate for the touch of her Alpha not already severe?

Absentmindly, she stroked her fingertips over her belly until her skin had turned cold again and the sun was up. His seed was inside her, Grace thought, and if she weren't on birth control she could be pregnant after how long it would take to reach her egg.

“Do you want to spend the whole day in bed?” Jack chuckled and let his eyes wander over her body in the warm morning sun. Grace turned her head to the side and looked at her husband for a moment before she denied and wanted to get up to go to the bathroom when Jack disappreared in his closet.

She felt his cum move inside her as soon as she sat up. With her thighs tightly pressed together she waddled into the bathroom. Grace contemplated taking a shower and getting rid of his scent on her. Maybe he would be angry or at least bewildered because she had washed her Alpha's scent from her. But she really just wanted to be clean, just that. Grace didn't do it, also because she was starting to feel sore. So in the end there was a bit of pain but no blood in the sheets.

They had breakfast as usual. He went upstairs into his office to work a bit, to tinker around a bit as he called it, when they were finished and left her alone again. Everything as usual, Grace thought and let out a heavy sigh when she put the jam, cheese, and salami away before she returned into her garden. Routine had developed so quickly between them it was both great and appalling.


	12. Wedding reprise

Two weeks filled with steamy sex in the bedroom and ...loneliness everywhere else had taught Grace that her husband wasn't much of a cuddler on the couch in front of the TV in the evenings. Jack had locked himself away in his office the first ten days, leaving Grace alone in the garden or on the wide leather armchair in the living room.

She told herself that he knew what she needed. He was an Alpha and they always knew what was best. Her mother had taught her that with words and her father with his actions. Grace had never needed to ask for anything when being with him. A joke, a hug, a stern look. Always there when needed. Jack wasn't much different when they were together and she told him about her day and patiently listened to his stories from work.

“We have an invitation to a wedding,” Grace informed Jack when he came home one evening and sipped his drink.

He looked at her with an arched eyebrow before he remembered, “Ah, for Fredericka.”

She nodded and handed him the gold-rimmed, thick-papered invitation over the bar counter.

“Yes, Holten-McAlistair Uncollaring Ceremony.” Jack shook his head and sighed heavily.

“What's wrong? Can't we attend it? The Uncollaring is in a week already. A very short notice for a family of your dimension, I would reckon.”

“No, it's not that. My cousin, her mother Tamara Spencer-Holten, had an older brother, Frederick, who -” He stopped himself and cleared his throat. Grace furrowed her brows and lay her head to the side to ask him silently to continue.

“He had killed himself when Tamara had been pregnant with Fredericka. She named her daughter after him,” Jack answered without looking at her.

“Why had he killed himself?” Grace wanted to know, slightly shocked about the tragic news.

He emptied the glass, his face turning dark, when he answered, “Because his Omega had killed herself shortly before him.”

Grace wanted to know more, partially to avoid saying the wrong things at the Uncollaring but also because, plainly, she was nosy. But before she could open her mouth, Jack had already left the room with a muttered, “I'm going to work a bit more before dinner is ready.”

He didn't answer her this evening or the next days until the wedding.

* * *

 

* * *

Another week later Grace stood in front of the mirror in the morning before the ceremony in the cathedral would happen. She wasn't sure if her dress was appropriate for a wedding, well, an Uncollaring Ceremony. It covered her shoulders and her still unmarked claiming spot over her scent gland. Grace had picked a light blue dress with gold applications on the bodice and the midi hem. She didn't want to be the center of attention on the big day of somebody else.

A whistle from the door made her turn her head. Jack was still fiddling with his bow tie when he saw her smoothing her cold, sweaty hands over her dress skirt.

“You look gorgeous.”

“Not too much?” Grace asked, keeping her slight panic at bay.

“Not at all.” Jack came over to her when he was finally done with the bow tie and wrapped his arms around her from behind. With his nose buried in her braided chignon, he sucked in her scent and growled seductively.

“We'll be late for church if you don't stop,” she breathed, her eyes closing on their own and her heart beating faster from the sound he had made.

“Let's skip church then.”

“Won't people notice your absence?”

He groaned when he had to admit that she was right. God, he could already hear his father's scolding in the back of his head. Jack gave her ass an appreciative slap before he let go and laced his fingers with hers before they left for the Uncollaring.

Grace oriented her actions on Jack's. He had been in this situations more often then her. She let him lead her to the second row on the left church side and sat them down in between his parents and his younger brother and his wife. They had eyed her dress with quirked eyebrows, his father had practically glared at her just like Emily who sat at the far left of the row and had mouthed an ''Unbelievable'' before she had even sat down.

Jack held her hand like he was worried she might run away every second. It was a strange change to his almost neglective behavior when they were alone. Grace didn't know anyone in the church. It wasn't the cathedral she and Jack had married in, a bit smaller but no less ornamented and pompous.

The bride was a little bit younger than Grace, had long red hair flowing down her back in loose curls and wore a lacy dress in a 60's style, the complete opposite of her wedding outfit. She looked beautiful and beamed with happiness. No sign of fear or nervousness, just joy and love.

The ceremony was short but nice. The couple, Fredericka and Aiden, had asked the priest to incorporate their personalities into the sermon. He was composer and she a dedicated dancer. They had know each other even before she had entered her academy. The whole churched laughed about little jokes they had threaded into the ceremony and the organist played a beautiful song Aiden had composed for his bride.

They looked so smitten with each other that Grace almost turned jealous. She wanted this with her husband too. When the actual Uncollaring was over the whole church applauded, Jack even whistled through his teeth together with a few other younger Alphas.

The newlyweds linked arms and kissed like love-struck teenagers as they walked towards the grand door down the aisle. The first row with the couples' parents followed them outside. Then it was Grace's turn to get up and walk outside by Jack's side.

Jack kissed her cheek in front of the church before congratulating his cousin's daughter and her husband to the marriage and eventually turning to his father.

“We'll take our own car and drive to Tamara alone or with Rick and Nina?”

“They'll come with us,” he answered and looked Grace up and down like she was wearing nothing at all. Jack didn't seem so notice it but Grace wanted the earth to swallow her whole just so she could escape this situation.

She didn't feel well on their drive to the location. She fiddled with a gold applications on her hem and clenched her teeth, a mix of discomfort, discontent and anger growing inside her chest. Jack eventually picked up on it and asked her what was wrong.

“I think I chose the wrong dress.”

“Why?” he laughed and scanned her from the corner of his eye, “You look amazing.”

It made her smile but she couldn't shake off the look his father had given her. Suddenly she groaned. Why did she even care about them? Jack was the only one who's opinion should matter to her and so she held it for the rest of the day.

As soon as they were at the party and had a drink in their hands, Jack snaked his arm around her waist and pulled Grace closer. She sipped her glass to hide her stupid, happy smile. She loved the little signs of his possessiveness without ever coming over as bossy or stifling but she didn't want to look like a love-struck idiot just because he had laid his arm around her.

This was their first public appearance after their Uncollaring and she wanted to be perfect. Grace stuck to one glass of champagne and then changed to plain water to avoid burping in the middle of a sentence. Jack was always by her side, talked mostly to his brother Rick and a cousin named Kasmir. His mother seemed to be Russian and had married a brother of Jack's mother. Tamara and Fredericka were related to Jack over the Spencer-side. Grace tried to pay as much attention to the names and relationships as she could to figure out if she was talking to a Spencer or a Hunter or someone from the groom's side.

The food was great, she could've stuffed herself with it like there was no tomorrow but sharing the same table as Emily, her family, and Rick and his wife made her cautious again. She couldn't really understand why Jack's sister glared at her like that without ever having exchanged a single word with one another but Emily seemed to downright hate her new sister-in-law. Grace avoided looking at her. She hadn't done anything wrong so she had absolutely no reason to be pissed at her, Grace told herself and rather stuck to talking to Nina, who was a very funny, loud woman with short brown hair and a biting sense of humor.

“Don't you too think that Aiden's granny should move into this dimension with her clothing style,” she snickered and nooded over to an older woman with a dress that could only be explained with otherworldly. Undoubtably a designer's very special piece for brave dressers.

Grace only laughed silently and nodded.

“At least she isn't doing it to gain all attention,” Emily sneered and eyed Grace with something similar to disgust in her eyes.

“Go and spit venom somewhere else, Emily, nobody cares what you say.”

Rick kicked his wife under the table to make her shut up. Emily huffed indignant but didn't say anything more. Nina glared at her husband for shutting her up so rudely while Jack had his arm draped around the back of her seat and had watched the scene next to him uncommented.

He knew his sister could spit venom when she had a bad day and obviously today was one of them. It was a good opportunity to see how Grace would react to her snarling. She stayed remarkably silent for how snappy she had already been towards him. Maybe she didn't want to make a bad impression at their first public appearance. Not a stupid idea.

The music changed and the bride stood up from behind her table and had her shoes in her hand.

“Time for DANCING!” she announced with a wide smile on her lips and threw her shoes over her back to her husband.

The DJ turned up the music and the fast beat of a Motown classic filled the location. There was no classical dance floor, only soft green grass in the middle of the spacious tent. No wonder she had taken off her shoes. Her heels would only sink in into the ground and make every step an unnecessary fight against mother earth.

Aiden followed his wife onto the ''dance floor'' and twisted the night away with her. Laughing and happy screeching filled the air and more and more people joined the newly weds.

Jack and Grace were two of them. Grace left her shoes at the table like most of the other Omegas did.

“Don't-”

“Step on your toes, I know. I remember from our last dance,” Jack finished her sentence and made her smirk.

“Well, I would be shocked if you didn't. It's only been three weeks since we celebrated our union.”

There was a strange subtone to her voice. Jack laid his head to the side and wanted to know if everything's okay. Grace showed him her beautiful smile, true or fake he couldn't tell sometimes like today, and kissed him tenderly.

Grace had the feeling that he sometimes forgot that he had a wife and remembered that little fact every night when he found something alive and breathing next to him in bed. But not having to spend her entire time pleasing him, had helped her with decorating her little realm with her snow globe collection, the old records she had inherited from her grandfather, and the little knick-knacks she had collected over the years. But right now he remembered she was there and he held her in his arms, swaying with her over the dance floor. She loved it.

 

A little later that evening the music had changed to something more clubby but always with a heavy focus on love. The dance floor was solely filled with Omegas dancing together, either forgetting their mates and husbands were there or flirting with them with seductive glances over their shoulders. Nina belonged to the first category while Grace could feel Jack's eyes on her body the entire time. She put extra effort in making her hips sway a bit more than they would've usually, leaned her head back to present her smooth neck, or simply looked over to him, biting her lower lip when she let her eyes wander over his body as well.

“She's a minx,” Jack heard from the side and glared at the one who had said it, Nicolas.

“She's mine,” he growled in response. Rick who had been playing _Angry Turtles_ on his phone sensed the growing aggression between the two Alphas, mainly coming from Jack, and put his phone back into the inside pocket of his jacket. He knew Jack had a good reason to pump his fists.

“And she'll stay yours. Especially, when she's practically peeling off every single layer of your clothes with her eyes from the dance floor. Maybe you should finally give her what she wants, Jack,” Rick tried to smooth the edges, knowing that Jack would never find anything in him to light that kind of distrust and anger.

Jack murmured a “Probably” and stood up, collected Grace's shoes from her seat and walked over to her. She shook her head when he held up her heels.

“Just a bit longer,” she moaned and swayed over to him out of the bundle of sweating, laughing Omegas around her. Grace snaked her arms around his neck and pressed her heated-up body against his. Jack's free arm automatically wrapped around her waist and he moved a bit with her.

“We can turn up the beat at home too,” he purred right next to her ear and made her throw her head back with a loud laugh and wiggling eyebrows.

“Promise me.”

Jack smirked and kissed her like he wanted to rip her dress off of her right here at the party. It left her breathless and him with a cocky grin. “Promise enough?”

She nodded light-headed and followed him to the parking lot in front of the house. Only there Jack noticed that he had forgotten his keys at the table and told Grace to wait while he hurried to get them.

She leaned against the cool metal of the car and wrapped her arms around her middle. It was early summer but the night were still rather chilly. Grace's mind already planned out the next couple of hours. She could hardly wait for Jack to return and get home with him.

Or maybe they wouldn't even make it home, her internal voice snickered suggestively and made her smirk like a cat.

“All on your own out here?” she suddenly heard a voice from the house. Startled, she turned around and stood up straighter when she saw Emily's husband coming closer with slow steps.

“Ehm, yes, Jack's just getting the keys.”

“He shouldn't leave such a beauty like you out of sight. A man could get ideas.”

There was something about him, Grace didn't like. He was still a few feet away but already too close for her taste. A fit of adrenaline shot through her, making her take cautious steps back towards the house, trying to keep her distance from Nicolas. Suddenly he started to laugh.

“Are you afraid of me? I'm your sister-in-law's husband. I'm family, Grace. No reason to look at me like a rabbit in front of the snake.”

Grace relaxed a bit but not fully. At least she didn't back away when he walked over to her.

Just then, Jack returned. He had already been alarmed when Nicolas hadn't been at the table anymore. He saw red when he spotted him and Grace alone outside. He stalked towards them with rapid steps and didn't even give his brother-in-law the chance to back away from Grace before he punched Nicolas in the face, making his jaw crack and Jack's knuckles bleed. Grace stumbled back with a shocked gasp and watched her husband punch over and over into the other man's face and torso. Nicolas fought back but he was no match for an angry Alpha who boxed since he had been a teenager.

“Jack! Stop!” Grace screamed but Jack didn't seem to hear her. She needed to get help! What the hell had got into him?

Just as she was about to run back inside and get Rick or really the first Alpha she stumbled upon, Jack's father and his uncle, Douglas, alarmed by the screaming, were already there. Rick followed them and ripped at Jack's arm just before he wanted to land another punch that would've probably knocked Nicolas out.

“Jack, go to your Omega and take her home!” their father growled loudly while Douglas helped the inferior Alpha back up on his feet. His face was covered in blood, his nose broken, a few of his teeth laying on the ground.

Rick had to lean with his whole weight against Jack to keep him from attacking Nicolas again. Grace stood next to the scene with wide eyes. She shook from the adrenaline that ran through her veins but stopped immediately when Jack's eyes fell on her.

“Did he touch you?” he hissed. She needed a second before she shook her head but he wasn't happy with that answer. Jack grabbed her by the arm and pulled her over to their car. He ignored the little resistance she offered or the painful mewls that escaped her lips before he pushed her inside the car.

Grace held her pulsing arm and pressed her body into the seat and the car door. Her heart was racing like a greyhound. She had never thought that he would ever be so aggressive towards her. Nothing had happened! They had just talked. Jack had had no reason to lose it like he had done.

Grace took deep breaths to keep herself from crying like a baby out of panic and terror. As soon as Jack slid into the driver's seat the air in the restricted room got heavy with his buzzing anger. It immediately made her feel sick from the stomach. Grace held her hand over her nose and mouth, and closed her eyes to concentrate on breathing and not throwing up.

It took a fucking eternity until they were home. The ponding in her wrist was nothing compared to the nausea creeping up her throat. The whole car was filled with the coppery smell of his bleeding knuckles and the nauseating stench of his anger, bitter and oppressive with something that simply made Grace feel sick.

When they were finally home again, she kept a few feet distance from Jack when she followed him inside the house before directly running into the downstairs bathroom to finally throw up.

Jack only noticed it because she threw the door shut behind her. His mind still circled around the what-if's like it had on the ride here: What if his family hadn't stopped him? What if he hadn't stopped despise them? What if he hadn't stopped Nicolas from whatever he had been doing with her?

His knuckles weren't bleeding anymore but they hurt like hell. He cooled them under running water in the kitchen sink. Jack didn't want to explain what had driven him to punch his brother-in-law with the clear intention to kill him if she'd ask him. He was honest in that regard, he would've killed Nicolas without a second thought. He had no plans on ending like his cousin.

“Let me see,” Grace mumbled behind him and reached for his bruised hands. Jack pulled them away quickly and growled at her like an angry dog. He didn't want to, it was a reflex and he was sorry as soon as she had taken a few steps back with blood-shot eyes, smudged make-up and pale cheeks.

“I'm fine, Grace,” he murmured after taking a few calming breaths, “I just need a moment alone.”

She nodded and fled upstairs into her walk-in closet to get rid of the constricting dress. She couldn't reach the zipper on her back so she chose the easy way out and tore the fabric by the seams to be free and able to breathe properly again.

“ _I'm a stable person. I'm not very moody like other Alphas I know_ ,” she whispered, hearing his voice in her head when she had asked him for his best quality at their first meeting. Fucking liar! “ _I am patient_. Patient, my ass.”

Her eyes fell on the angry red marks on her arm. She could draw his hand from the bruises he had left on her skin. She had married an aggressive man, one that didn't seem to let her in, making her an outsider and putting her in danger.

His aggression had not been directed at her and yet she had to lick her wounds and feared for her physical well-being. Grace started shaking when she imagined how it would go if he was angry at her.

Her sharp tongue and fast mind wouldn't be able to help her against his fists. Grace locked herself in her realm and curled up on the padded windowsill, hoping that when he found the bedroom empty and this door closed, he wouldn't get mad at her.

Needless to say she didn't get a single second of sleep that night.

 


	13. Happy family

Jack had spend the night on the couch, not knowing that Grace had already made way for him to protect herself. He had smelled her discontent when she had tried to reach his injured hand last night.

His back hurt like hell when his phone woke him. Not with the usual unnerving alarm tone, but his ring tone for Rick.

He grumbled a “What do you want?” and sat up. Jack ran a hand over his tired face and heard his brother snicker on the other end of the line.

“You will hate me.”

“I already do, you woke me and I spend a horrible night on the couch. What do you want?”

“Dad has decided to have a family brunch in an hour. You are meant to be there or you'll-” Rick's voice changed to imitate their father's tone, “- face serious consequences.”

“Great, just what I needed today,” Jack growled and looked down to the dark brown scrab on the knuckles of his right hand, “Tell him I'll be there.”

“Without her.”

“I figured that,” he snapped and saw something moving from the corner of his eye, “Grace is awake. I gotta go.”

“Wait, why did you spend the night on the couch?”

Grace looked at him attentively. Every too fast move or unconscious sound could make him snap again and she had no means to defend herself against him if he lost it like he had yesterday. The angry red marks from last night had turned violet. She tried to hide them under her sweater. Her neck was sore and she was terribly tired. She had contemplated just staying in her little sactuary but she was too afraid of what he would do if he woke and found that breakfast wasn't ready. She had already wasted too much time chewing the inside of her cheek when she had gathered the courage to open the door again just to take the pill. When she had entered the kitchen, she hadn't noticed him on the couch. Only the ringing of his phone had given his position away.

“I'll explain later,” Jack said into his phone and hung up. Grace avoided his eyes and prepared breakfast in the hope that he was calmer than yesterday and that she would be able to sooth him even more with a good cup of his favorite morning drink.

“You don't have to make breakfast for me. I was summoned to a brunch at my father's. He wants to speak to me.”

Grace nodded but still avoided his eyes. She fiddled with her sleeve, pulling it down to hide the bruises. Jack felt her discomfort and clenched his teeth. He had never wanted to scare her.

“You are not afraid of me now, are you?” he asked softly, trying not to make it sound like an interrogation or a reproach.

She shook her head in answer. He didn't believe her at all.

“Please look at me, Grace.” Jack slowly walked towards her, finally picking up on her white knuckles, as she held the cuff of her sleeve in place. Grace cautiously lifted her gaze to meet his.

“You are afraid of me.”

“No,” she lied, “now I just know what you're capable of.”

“And you fear that I could turn against you? You are my wife. I would never harm you. I'm not an aggressive man, Grace!”

She didn't answer, only held his gaze and concentrated in breathing calmly. Something like hurt waved over his features but it was gone as fast as it had come.

“I would never hurt you, Grace, and I don't want you to be afraid of me. I ...I had my reasons to keep Nicolas away from you.”

“You didn't just keep him away, you broke bones because we were merely talking to each other,” she said in a small voice.

“I don't ever want you to be alone with him.”

“Or what?” She jutted her jaw forward and crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn't stupid, Grace knew that he could knock her out with one well-placed flick of his hand but she wanted to put his words to the test. But where she thought he would answer in a stern voice, glare at her or show really just any sign of aggression, he just stared at her breasts.

No, not her breasts, her arm under them, her exposed arm as the sleeve rode up and revealed the marks of yesterday.

Jack reached out his hand and let his fingertips ghost over the bruises on her wrist.

“I'm sorry about that. I ...I didn't notice I grabbed you so hard,” he whispered, shocked over his own lie. He had hurt her without even realizing it.

Grace pulled the sleeve back down over her arm. “It's nothing.”

“Nothing? It-”

His phone's buzzing cut him off. He groaned when he saw Rick's caller-ID pop up on the screen with his message underneath it: **Hurry. Dad's PISSED!**

“I gotta go now,” he murmured and wanted to lean down for their usual kiss goodbye, not thinking about the routine, before Grace flinched. Jack stopped immediately, looking at her like she had just slapped him. Grace cursed herself for her reaction, leaned forward to give him a peck on the cheeks and turned around to make breakfast for herself.

Jack wanted to resolve this mess he had caused but his phone buzzed again. **NOW!**  
With a long groan he ran upstairs, taking two steps at once, changed into clean clothes and hurried to drive to his father's penthouse. On the long elevator ride up, he got more and more nervous. He knew that his father was angry because he had “behaved badly”, as he would put it, and Emily would be boiling poison because Nicolas was her husband and mate. She had always been too blind to see what her husband

was really like ...or maybe she knew but didn't care.

 

* * *

 

 

Jack sat down at the table, feeling the glares of his sister and his father heavy on his shoulders. Rick sat next to him and pretended to be invisible, his mother Diana gave him a stern but sympathetic look.

“Shall we eat first or do I get shred to piece before?” Jack sighed and leaned back in his chair. He had no intention to eat here. Hit and run. His family would deal out the hits and when he had enough he would run home and make things up with Grace.

“Is this a joke to you?” Jonathan asked, slowly raising his eyes to his eldest son.

“No, I think this is a tragedy, written by Shakespear himself with jelousy, a murderer and a lot of sad clowns involved,” Jack snarled and grinded his teeth. He, unlike the others at the table, didn't wince when his father's fist came down loudly on the table top.

“This is not funny, Jonathan! This despicable behavior of yours was a sign of pure disrespect for your cousin's family. And it sheds a bad light on our family too. That Omega of your-”

“Grace,” Jack interrupted him through gritted teeth and flared nostrils.

“-has behaved like a slut the whole night.”

Diana clenched her teeth by the sound of the insult. She didn't have the same opinion as her husband but kept quiet. Emily nodded with an arrogantly quirked eyebrow while Rick frowned in disagreement.

Jack's heart started to beat faster, his jaw hurt from biting his teeth together so hard, his breathing quickened and his tightly clenched fists under the table started to shake.

“Your wife-”

“Grace,” Jack growled and earned himself an even darker glare from his father.

“-dressed like a prostitute, danced like one and you simply let her. I am very disappointed in you and the choice you made in chosing _her_.”

“Grace! Father, her name is _Grace_! Use her name!”

“Don't you dare raise your voice against me. I am still your father,” Jonathan hissed, making the skin of everyone at the table crawl. Jack clenched his teeth tightly together to keep from growling. “I knew right from the beginning that she was no match for you. Coming from a lower class family and then the rumors about her older sister. I should've never allowed this disgrace to enter our family.”

Jack had enough. This was not about him this was about collectively bitching about Grace and he didn't need to listen to this.

“I will make sure you will never have to see this disgrace again. I will not attend any family gathereing so that you'll be spared from her,” he answered way calmer than he felt and stood up to leave but Diana stopped him.

“Please sit down, John. We would like to talk about what happened last night.”

“Well, obviously ''her husband'' crept up to ''my wife'' and got himself a clear statement that I do not wish him anywhere near her,” Jack sneered still standing, although Rick already tried pulling him back into the chair.

“You broke half the bones in Nicolas' face! Do you even know what he looks like now? Lilian cried when she saw her father like that!” Emily screeched highly when Jack eventually slumbed back into the chair and the butchering could continue.

“I'm pretty fucking sure he still looks better than Frederick looks right n-”

“Jack,” his father cut in and gave him his death glare.

“What? Didn't you teach me my entire life that I'm suppose to tell the truth? Frederick is the fucking reason for last night!”

“You are being ridiculous. Nicolas had nothing to do with Frederick's death,” Emily hissed.

Jack only huffed at her stupidity. “Yeah, sure. Keep on lying to yourself, stupid b-.”

“Daaad!”

He couldn't believe she actually pulled the daughter-card right now. Jack finally had enough when his father actually looked at him scolding. With a huff, he stood up and left without another word. He was already by the elevator when he heard steps behind him.

“Jack, wait!” Rick called.

“Why? Do you want to tell me what a disgrace my wife is or how much I overreacted?”

“No, I wanna get to know Grace a bit better. Nina told me she was alright and she wants to invite you two to dinner tomorrow.”

“Great, now that you told me that you can leave me alone again.” Jack punched the elevator button to get rid of at least some of the cramped up energy in his guts.

“Let's just go home and have a beer.”

Jack turned around to his brother with narrowed eyes. What the fuck? Why the hell did he want to get into his house?

“Are you spying for Dad?”

He swallowed thickly and looked to the side. Of fucking course. Not just a Daddy's girl but also a Mommy's boy! Was he the only grown-up in this fucking family?

“It's just that they are worried.”

“About what?”

“Grace.”

Jack stood up straighter. “What do they think I would do to her, huh?”

Rick looked to the side, acting submissive to calm him down a bit. “You were pretty rough with her yesterday and Dad just wants to know if she's fine.”

He wanted to scream that he would never hurt her and that she was his wife, the mother of his future children, and that he wasn't a monster ...but he had hurt her, had left painful marks on her skin and had scared her so much that she had winced away this morning. With a heavy sigh, Jack entered the elevator and nodded Rick over to him.

They didn't talk on their way home at first because Jack was too consumed in trying to calm down. He had seen how she reacted to his anger. He didn't need a repetition of that.

“So, you spend the night on the couch,” Rick broke the heavy silence in the restricted room of his Aston Martin rapid.

“Yes,” Jack growled, longer that usual while his hands closed tightly around the steering wheel.

“Why?” the younger man asked, mimicking his brother's speaking pattern.

“Because ...that's none of your business.”

“C'mon, you have like four throusand guestrooms in your house and you chose to sleep on the couch.”

“It's four, one is my home office, one is Grace's private room, and two are guest/kids rooms.”

“Means you have two spare rooms that you could've used to spend the night in without risking bumping into her what you obviously tried to avoid.”

“God, can you please shut up and just exist for a moment. You suck!”

“I'm the little brother,” Rick grinned, “that's my job.”

“And you're a fucking expert in it.”

“34 years of hard work and daily practice, Jack.”

Jack couldn't believe that his stupid little brother and his stupid little smile could actually make him smile and relax just for a split second. But he returned to his growl a moment later.

“You could've been a bit more supportive back there.”

“And step on Dad's toes? Or even worse, Emily's? No, thank you. I rather have you being angry at me then them. You're easier to calm.”

Jack curled his lips into a scowl. “Then maybe I should be a bigger ass to you in the future.”

“Nah, your current ass-ness is perfect.”

Jack reached over and boxed his brother's upper arm as brotherly punishment. When Rick wanted to fight back with a laugh, Jack stopped him. “I'm driving, you idiot!”

“Always an excuse,” Rick clicked his tongue and shook his head before he turned serious again, “Frederick is still a big thing in your mind, huh?”

“I'm living in his old house and he was my ''older brother'', of course he is. Do you even remember him? You were only 16 when he died. I was 20 and he 31. I was his best man when he uncollared Margot. So, do you really think I could ever forget him.”

“Okay, fair enough. You loved Frederick but it's been 17 years and you almost broke Nicolas' skull.”

Jack growled deeply, “Yes.”

“Don't you ...you know, think it was a bit too ...much?”

“Seriously, Rick? He is the reason for their death! I don't wanna end like them!”

“C'mon, Jack, it's only ever been rumors that he and Margot had an affair. Emily would've noticed that.”

“He raped her. I talked with Frederick when it _supposedly didn't_ happen. She had bruises, scratches and even bite marks on her body. We talked about going to the police but she insisted nothing had happened. Clearly a lie! And Emily? Pshaw! Emily only ever sees what she wants to see. You know her just as well as I do.”

“Yes, you're right but cheating? She would've killed him ...and then filed a divorce. She had been head over heels and they had been married for not even a whole year when it had happened.”

“If the problem hadn't solved itself like it eventually did,” Jack finished his sentence.

He remembered the panicked phone call at 2 am when Frederick had told him that Margot had slashed her wrists in the bathtub. A cold shiver ran down his spine by the memory of her open, lifeless eyes and her limp body in his cousin's desperate embrace, his face red and wet with tears. The first time Jack had ever seen an Alpha cry. Her suicide note had lain on the washtable, signed with _I never deserved someone like you. I'm sorry_.

“Does Grace know about them?”

“No,” Jack hummed, “Only that they killed themselves.”

Rick chewed his lower lip. “Maybe it would help if you tell her.”

“She doesn't need to know what happened in our house.”

He huffed a laugh. “The house is hardly the one they left. You made so many changes over the years.”

“It's still the house they lived and died in.”

And they were there. Rick was right. As soon as Jack had earned his first own money he had renovated the house to make it look different. He had hardly kept any of their belongings ...apart from Frederick's telescope on the terrace.

* * *

 

Grace was in the garden, digging in the dirt to feel better. She wanted to fill the house with plants, not flowers. Flowers were already dead, only shadows for their former beauty, doomed to die in front of the observer's eye. Plants were alive and they would stay alive until they died of neglection.

When she heard voices coming from inside the house, she immediately covered her bruises again. Jack had looked so hurt this morning that she didn't want to risk a repetition.

“See, she's alive and well,” she heard her husband's voice and looked up to see who he was talking to. Grace waved Rick hello and returned to the plant pots in front of her. A couple of minutes later Rick joined her outside and smiled at her friendly.

“Hi.”

“Hi,” she answered and looked past him to see where Jack was.

“Jack's upstairs in his office.” Of course he was, she thought with an internal growl, “I can ask him down if you feel more comfortable with him around.”

“I'm confident that you won't harm me.” After what his brother had done yesterday it was a miracle that he even dared talking to her. Jack seemed to trust his brother more than his brother-in-law. She interrupted her work to give him her undivided attention.

“I would like to speak with you, Grace.”

“About?”

“About the bruises you try to cover.” Rick nodded down to her arm she quickly covered again. Damn sweater!

“It's nothing.”

“It's enough to destroy a man's reputation.”

Grace frowned and looked up at him. Rick let out a heavy sigh and sat down next to her. “You see, Grace, an Alpha walks on eggs the whole time. He's supposed to be the perfect gentleman, a protector, a mate all your friends envy you for. It's a lot of pressure.”

She didn't give away anything with her facial expression. Rick was making excuses for Jack but he had simply lost control and nobody, not Rick and not even Jack himself, could guarantee her that it wouldn't happen to her one day.

“Jack had a reason to snap at Nicolas yesterday. He's definitely not aggressive towards everyone.”

“He was aggressive towards him ..” She looked down to her arm. “..and me.”

“As terrible as it sounds but you were ...collateral damage. He didn't want to hurt you, really anything but. He wanted to protect you.”

“There was no threat present.”

Rick ran a hand over the back of his neck and moved his head from one side to the other. “Well, for Jack Nicolas is a threat. It's an old story and I think you should ask him for an explanation but my brother isn't a brainless bully.”

“And he couldn't tell me that himself because ..?”

“Because I was assigned from my family to make sure that you're okay and you won't see your husband in the wrong light now. Though if you really want to, you can file a divorce and never have to see him again. Nobody would hold it against you.”

A divorce? Grace eyes widened a bit. She would've never thought that far though she had felt fear and discomfort. Maybe a divorce would've been an option but Grace didn't want them to think that she was weak and couldn't handle her own husband.

“I don't plan on filing a divorce after three weeks of marriage and I don't think your brother is a bully. Thank you for being concerned but I don't need your help. I'm fine.”

She smiled at him and saw him contemplate the honesty of her words. Rick eventually decided to trust her, after all she was an adult, and left her alone again.

“You've got yourself a tough one,” Rick said when he stood in the open office door, “She just said she's fine and that she doesn't need help and smiled at me like nothing had happened.”

“Nothing has happened.”

“I will tell Dad that everything's okay and that there's no need to worry.”

“Thanks,” Jack murmured, hunched over a couple of papers, “See you.”

Rick lifted his eyebrows at the brisk dismissal and said his goodbye to Grace before he left. She spend the rest of the time until noon in the garden without seeing her husband once. Her head circled around what Rick had told her. Nicolas was a threat in Jack's eyes, there was an old story, that he wanted nothing but protect her. From Nicolas? He had seemed a bit strange but not like a threat.

“Do you have a minute? I wanna speak with you,” Jack interrupted her train of thought and waited for her to pay attention. When she finally did, he was at a loss of words. The only thing he really wanted to tell her was that he was sorry for hurting her but he knew she needed to know more.


	14. Gepetto

Grace patiently listened to Jack's explanation, the story of the death of his cousin and his mate. She didn't move a single muscle as she watched his eyes lose their focus, his brows furrow, and his hands curl into tight fists before he relaxed them again when he was finished talking.

“I don't want you to be alone with him, ever,” he finished his monologue.

Grace slowly nodded and asked herself how much truth lay in this tragic tale. Maybe he had only made this story up to give an explanation for his escalated behavior. If he wanted to make her believe this than she simply would for the overall sake of their marriage. Three weeks were too soon to determine wheter it was a failure or not.

She stood up from her planting spot on the terrace floor and took off her dirty gardening gloves. Grace walked over to Jack, lay her hands on his chest and leaned up to kiss him softly. He looked more like he wanted her to believe him, than actually feeling sorry for hurting her or his brother-in-law. She would give him what he wanted, a smile that told him she wasn't afraid or angry, but stay alerted. Grace also couldn't deny that there was a strange feeling rising inside her guts concerning Nicolas. She would keep away from him, to safe herself and him too.

Jack sighed against her lips and pulled her closer by her waist to deepen the kiss just for a moment before letting go again. When she looked up into his eyes and found a glimpse of apology, she let go of him again.

“I hope you don't mind that I want to put a few plants around the house. Maybe one or two in your office as well.”

“As long as you take care of them. I told you, I'm terrible at keeping plants alive.”

“You have other qualities,” she said with a smirk.

Grace made an effort to make her voice sound seductive and hopefully make him forget about everything that had happened yesterday. Jack picked it up all too willingly and purred from deep within. But before he could pull her inside the house, she twirled out of his graps and returned to her plants.

“Pick the ones you want so I can place the others while you're at work.”

Work? Fuck! Grace almost couldn't keep herself from laughing when his face turned blank and he hurried back inside.

“I'll take whatever you like the least!” he said loudly over his shoulder before he left the house to rush to work. Grace only shook her head and brought the pots inside. A few of them ended up hanging from the ceiling in front of the tall windows in the living room because there was no windowsill to be placed on, some she hung in her little realm, and their bedroom. She gifted Jack a green algea, easy to keep alive. Grace put extra effort into filling the main bathroom with plants and flowers to somewhat shield the view from the outside.

Grace liked the way she left little things in every room and gave it more personality like that. She could lose herself in decorating.

“Turning a house into a home,” Juliana had always called it and she was right. Her plants were a touch of life added to the dead halls she inhabited now. Grace had managed to turn her realm into her little paradise. The shelves she had ordered and set up herself were filled with the snow globes and the vintage perfume bottles she had collected over the past years. Some were holding her other little treasures: antique hatpins from around the world. Chinese, Victorian, French.

Her mother had hated them because they were just “dirty, old dust catchers without any purpose”. Grace had only nodded and told her she would get rid of them but never did. On her first little tours through the house she had searched for pillows she would use to make her wide windowsill more cozy but had already frowned at the meagre yield she found no matter where she searched.

Jack would definitely have to get her a mountain of pillows and blankets before her Heat otherwise she wouldn't have enough to build her nest with aka she would kick him out of the bed and yell him into getting her pillows and blanket or she would simply do what she did before she was married and lock herself in the bedroom for the time of her Heat.

Without a nest it would still be a terrible pain in the ass to have her Heat. Hopefully he wouldn't let it come so far. Hopefully.

 

* * *

A few hours later, Grace was interrupted rewatching Anna Karenina for the 1000th time by the sound of the doorbell. She glanced at her watch and frowned. 4 pm. Jack wouldn't be home for another hour minimum.

Cautiously, she walked to the door and saw through the glass in the entrance door a strange couple standing in front of the house. They looked at her just as confused as she was and the man immediately pulled out his smart phone. Grace watched him walk a few yards away from the porch while the dark skinned woman stayed by the door. Grace saw that something was off with the man. He was left-handed but it didn't look natural because his right hand seemed to be ...metal?

“Where are you, Jack?” he asked into his phone, loud enough for Grace to be heard, “No, today is the 18th, the day we spoke about. And who's the girl inside your house?”

The woman laughed and shook her head. “Has he forgotten?”

“Of course he has,” the man said with a roll of his eyes and hung up. Just as Grace was about to get to the phone and call Jack for an explanation, her smart phone already rang. "Hubby" showed on the display. Grace sincerely hoped that if Jack ever found out about her caller-ID for him, he would take it with a laugh.

“Yes?” she answered warily.

“Hi, I completely forgot about Alex and Carolyn coming over today. Could you please let them in? I'll be home in half an hour.”

“Are you sure you can trust him around me?” she sneered and cursed herself the second she heard Jack's tired sigh on the other end of the line. She shouldn't metaphorically kick him when he was already on the ground. He had already looked like hell when he had returned from his parents earlier.

“Please, Grace.”

“You'll be here in half an hour?” she asked with an uncertain look to the door.

“I'm already out of the office. Just waiting for the elevator. I promise I'll be home soon.”

Grace let the two strangers enter and apologized for letting them wait so long outside.

“Oh, don't worry. Without you we would be waiting even longer,” the woman said with a wide smile on her full lips. She extended her hand friendly and introduced herself as Carolyn Wheeler. Her husband cleared his throat when she started to furrow her brows as soon as Grace winced from her.

“Caro, we talked about this. We don't touch unicorns.”

Grace arched her eyebrows and waited for an explanation but was only met with another introduction, “My name is Alexander Wheeler. I'm an old school friend of Jack's.” He didn't extend his hand or even moved closer than two arms lengths to her which was much to Grace's delight.

“He said he'll be here in about half an hour. Can I offer you something?”

Alex laughed and waved her offer off. “No, thank you. We're good.”

They all moved into the living room and sat down, Grace on the armchair and the two strangers on the couch, sliding into an awkard silence until Carolyn broke it when she couldn't take it anymore.

“Sooo, you're Jack's wife I gather?”

“Yes.”

“And since when?”

“Three weeks."

She lifted her eyebrows and her mouth formed a surprised _oh_. “So fresh. And how was the honeymoon?”

“Caro, shush,” Alex said lowly and ran his left hand over his wife's back. Carolyn looked at him over her shoulder and hissed, “What? I'm just making conversation.”

“Alpha-Omega couples work a bit differently then we do, honey.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, honeymoon usually happens after the claiming, not the wedding.”

Just as Grace wanted to change the topic they heard noises from the door. Jack hurried inside, slightly out of breath and with disheveled hair.

“I'm so sorry. I completely forgot,” he blurted out even before he had completely entered the room. He shrugged off his jacket and through it over the backrest of Grace's armchair. “Do you have any problems with the arm or do you just need an oil change?”

Alex stood up laughing and hugged Jack brotherly.

“Just an oil change and I wanted to see the unicorn you caught yourself. Took you long enough to settle on one.” He nodded over to Grace and added, “A beauty before the gods. Good choice.”

“Did you expect anything less? Jack has always picked the most beautiful girls,” Carolyn snickered and hugged Jack too. Grace looked to the side and clenched her teeth.

She was an Omega, not a unicorn, or was she really just a mythical creature to them? And after what she had experienced yesterday it was a mockery beyond compare that he got to hug a strange woman in front of her eyes when he already snapped when another Alpha only as much as talked to her.

Grace wanted to excuse herself and go into her room or the garden when Jack spoke to her, “Would you mind going into my office and bring me the little silver case from behind the door?”

“Of course,” she murmured with a pinch of anger in her voice but did as he had asked. When she returned after a few minutes, the living room was empty but she could see the three outside on the terrace, laughing and sitting together in the sun.

Grace felt excluded and she hated it. This was her house and she felt like his personal maid. She put on her smiling face, handed him the case and tried not to stare at the exposed, metallic arm of their visitor. Alex was only wearing a shirt, Carolyn was holding his green sweater and suit jacket while Jack sat opposite from him, hunched over the metal arm prosthesis.

“Do you need something else?”

Jack picked up on the tone in her voice and looked up at her hard face. “No, but you wanted to know what I do at my father's company and this is basically what I do ...only in a smaller scale.”

Grace sat down on the armrest of his garden chair and looked over his shoulder when he took out tiny screwdrivers from the case she had brought him and tweaked here and there. Jack squeezed his eyes shut every once in a while and groaned after a few minutes.

“Wearing contact lenses again?” Alex asked with a snicker.

“Hm-mh,” Jack denied and sat up straighter. He pinched the bridge of his nose and wanted to continue working until Carolyn chirped smirking, “And where are your glasses?”

Jack shrugged, “Living room, Gran Canyon, Germany, the moon. Who knows?”

Grace got up without saying a word and returned with three different sets of glasses a moment later. Alex started laughing when he saw Jack's lifted eyebrows.

“Where were they? I keep losing them everywhere.”

“Well, one was in the bathroom cabinet this morning, one was in the book shelf in the living room and the last one was in the fridge.”

“What?” Jack looked at her with a frown.

“Yes, between the yoghurt and the salami.”

Carolyn and Alex couldn't stop laughing when Jack cleared his throat trying to remember how his glasses had ended up in the fridge of all places when he took one set of them from Grace's hands and cleared his throat again before he contined working on Alex mechanical arm.

“When you're done laughing your ass off, you could answer me some questions.”

“Sure, go ahead,” Alex chuckled and took deep breaths to keep from giggling like a ticklish school girl.

“You have no problems with your arm?”

“Nope.”

“No oil loss or squeaky noises?”

“No, everything's moving smoothly.”

“I would like to see that. Please stretch your arm out and then pull your hand back to your chest.”

Grace watched Alex move his arm. It was a bit wanky but it was only a prosthesis after all. And for that it was a spectacular sight. He looked like he was a figure from a video game, only in real life.

“Can you move each finger individually?”

Alex smirked and flipped him the finger. “Course.”

Jack slapped the hand away and snickered. “Obviously you're still a fully functioning asshole.”

Carolyn hugged her husband's left arm and added, “My fully functioning asshole.”

Grace watched them interact with each other and it felt so strange to see her rather stuck up husband laugh, snicker and just be relaxed so much. She itched to ask what had happened to Alex but bit her tongue. It was none of her business and it was impolite to ask a stranger such a personal question. Yet, who really was the stranger here? She still sat on the armrest of Jack's chair, slightly behind him and not _with_ them. She was a mere observer and not a participant of the conversation.

“We have made good progress in sheathing. The last I heard was something that was so close to real skin that it could also be used as coverage for burn wounds.”

“But I don't want to hide it, you know that, Jack.”

“Yeah, yeah. But we could cover it at the same session when we add the new connections to the joint. You have to say goodbye to your metallic friend anyways. You are assigned for a lighter, better arm prosthesis made from carbon.”

“But I like my metal arm,” Alex pouted jokingly.

Jack made a sympathetic face and shook his head. “Shit happens, Alex. You'll get a better one. Maybe you can paint it grey if you miss it too much.”

“You'll grow accustomed to it like you did with this one,” Carolyn whispered and kissed Alex' cheek. Grace watched them intently. She was obviously not an Omega, but he was also obviously an Alpha. They seemed so in love with each other that Grace almost turned jealous. Carolyn was outspoken like she was, but Grace had been beaten over the head with manners and total control her whole life. If she had been a Beta, she would've probably turned out like Carolyn. And Alex proved that she could've still married an Alpha.

But maybe she would've always feared that she might not be enough for him. At Woodlark her teachers had always said that the only real partner for an Alpha was an Omega. Betas were only second choice for an Alpha who wasn't rich enough to provide for an Omega for the rest of their life.

She must've been buried in her thoughts for longer than she had thought because when she snapped out of it, Carolyn was already helping her husband dress again.

“I'm bringing you to the door,” Jack said, took off his glasses and put the screwdrivers back into the small tool case. The sun had lost it's warmth by now and Grace started freezing. She followed the three people back inside the house and nodded the guests goodbye without saying a word. Grace didn't want to be unfriendly, she just didn't know what to say to these strangers.

“Now you know what I do,” Jack sighed when he returned and slumped down on the couch. Grace snaked her arm along the top edge of the couch, let her fingers slide into the hairs on the nape of his neck and scratched his scalp until he was purring like a cat.

She wanted to say sorry for snapping at him on the phone because she hadn't trusted him. She needed to finally lose the distrust against him. If there was anyone in the world she would have to trust to keep her safe and sound in her most vulnerable times, it was him.

“Yes, you are Gepetto,” she answered in a soft voice.

“I'm an old Italian with a unfulfilled wish for a child?”

“No,” she laughed, “but I'm impressed, you know Pinocchio.”

Jack let out a heavy, tired sigh. “You know I have nieces and before Cate turned into a terrible teenager, she was a very sweet girl with a slightly concerning Disney obsession. Although she didn't like Pinocchio that much. A bit too dark for her taste. And I still can't figure out why I am Gepetto.”

“You give lifeless things life.”

Jack turned his head towards her and kissed her wrist right next to his cheek. “But wouldn't make me that the fairy godmother?”

Grace let her eyes wander over his body and pursed her lips.

“Are you imagining me in a silver dress?” Her caught expression told him everything and he started snickering. Jack leaned over to her and kissed her tenderly.

Grace sighed against his lips and pressed her body against his. She wanted to put an apology into the kiss for being snappy again at noon when he had been stressed and tired.

“I think I'm gonna go to bed early today. Last night wasn't exactly the most comfortable one.”

Jack got up and wanted to leave but stopped when he saw Grace's thoughtful face. He had spend the night on the couch and she on the windowsill in her room. She could've slept in her comfortable bed and not have a sore neck now! Ugh, Grace thought but also wondered why Jack had decided to also not spend the night in their cozy bedroom. Self-punishment for the way he'd acted towards Nicolas? No, more likely because he had been so rough with Grace. After all she had thrown up because he had been buzzing with aggression on their way home. She still couldn't believe what an influence his emotions had on her even without being mates.

“Grace?” She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at his face. “Do you wanna join me and have delivery food whenever we wake up again? You don't actually look awake yourself.”

Grace glanced down to her watch. It was 7 pm and, yes, she was tired as hell. The corners of her mouth twitched upwards before she took Jack's hand and followed him upstairs into the bedroom.

She let him undress her and sighed contently when Jack started kissing her shoulders and neck from behind. His hands on her felt like heaven. Grace leaned back against his chest and reached back to thread her fingers into his wonderfully silky hair.

God, these were the moments she loved with him. When he was tender and gave her the feeling that there was nothing as important as her, her heart started beating a bit faster and her knees started getting weak. Grace's eyes fell on the scrab on his knuckles and she grabbed his hand.

“Does it still hurt?” she whispered and pulled it closer to her lips. The mood in the room immediately changed from about to get hot and steamy to tender and ...loving. Jack turned her around to look at her face. She had unexpected, deep worry lines on her forehead as she lightly stroked her thumb over the dark red proofs of yesterday's assault.

“Not anymore. Last night it had hurt a bit.”

“When you wouldn't let me have a look.” It wasn't meant as a reproach or a new beginning of the spicy topic they tried to ..sort out, bury in silence, forget? But Jack's eyes looked like he was about to sigh in surrender when he stepped closer and leaned his forehead against hers.

“I never wanted to hurt you, Grace,” he whispered again, sounding honestly sorry. She let go of his hand and thought about this afternoon when she circled her arms around his neck, weaving her fingers into his hair again.

Jack hadn't been the least concerned about letting Alex enter the house without him being home. He hadn't lost a single word about worrying about her safety. So either Jack wasn't concerned about Alex, especially, being around her or Jack had been honest about the story about his cousin this morning.

“I know, you just wanted to protect me, Jack,” she whispered against his lips and kissed him sweetly. It was honest this time and not just a lie to smooth the edges or be over with an uncomfortable conversation.

When they lay in bed, Jack pulled her especially close to his chest to make up for the bruises on her wrist and the discomfort he had put her through since last night. He hoped that he hadn't burned half build bridges between them and that she wasn't afraid of the one person who was supposed to become her lover and closest friend until their dying day.

 


	15. A turbulent weekend

The next morning, Grace was terribly hungry. Her stomach growled like a vicious dog, which made Jack laugh hoarsely under her cheek. They hadn't bothered getting food delivered yesterday, just stayed in bed and slept the whole night through.

“Good morning,” Jack murmured against the crown of Grace's head before adding after a few minutes, “I forgot to tell you that we have a dinner invitation from my brother and his wife for today.”

“Mhhh, very good. Means I can stay in bed until this evening,” she mumbled and looked up at him with sleepy eyes.

Jack snickered under her and dipped his head to kiss her. He tightened his arms around her and Grace suddenly thought about the metallic arm of yesterday's visitor.

“How did your friend lose his arm?”

“An accident.”

Grace lifted an eyebrow wanting to know more.

“Alex has a little sister, Estelle, and she's ...difficult. She doesn't listen to anyone and brings herself and others more often than not in dangerous situations. Four years ago when Alex was 32, he needed to get her home after she had been arrested for assault of her ex-boyfriend's new girl. They had a fight in the car, she told him to stop and let her out, he didn't, so she made him. The car turned over several times, he got stuck in the wreck, Estelle was almost uninjuried. Alex told her to get help and she ran into the next bar but instead of telling the barkeeper to call an ambulance she decided to flirt with him.” Jack sighed heavily, “An hour later, a car driving by then called help but it was already too late to safe his arm. Estelle lives in a mental home now after the police psychiatrist diagnosed her with a narcicisstic personality disorder and borderline.”

“What a shitty sister,” Grace murmured and had to think of her own. Annabelle had always been a free spirit with her own world and rules but she'd never lost contact to reality and would've left her to flirt with a man.

“Yeah, I used to joke if he wanted mine because I was convinced that Emily was the bigger pain in the ass, but Estelle really went too far.”

Grace's stomach growled again and caused Jack to get up with a chuckle, “I better get you breakfast before you start chewing my leg.”

She watched him smile at her over his shoulder and stretched in the soft covers surrounding her. “No biting, you said it yourself.”

Jack let his eyes wander over her body, the chaotic hair and sleepy eyes, the soft breasts that fit so perfectly in his hands, the belly button that showed under her hitched up sleep shirt and the white cotton panties that hid the gates to his personal heaven. He hated it that his job kept him away from her so many hours of the day. He would rather spent his days here in the bed fucki-

“Why did Alex call me unicorn?” Grace stopped his naughty train of thought mid-word. Jack needed a second to replay her question in her head and started laughing.

“Alex and I were on the same elite school as teens. It wasn't too far away from an Omega Academy. When we had a leisure hour, he used to climb around on the rooftop, of course strictly forbidden, and could see the roofs and little towers of the Academy.

“We used to make up fantastic stories á la Garden Eden or Mount Olympus because we didn't know what was going on there and apart from my family members I had never met an Omega. Alex had it even worse. His mother was a Beta and so he hadn't grown up with Omegas around. He assumed they weren't really people but mythical creatures and so we started calling Omegas unicorns. Though Emily was a donky, always.”

Grace giggled at the last sentence and let her hands stroke over her exposed belly.

“Didn't you say something about getting me breakfast? You're only staring at me like a starving dog looks at a piece of meat.”

“Maybe because I want to sink my teeth into your flesh,” Jack whispered lowly. Her body suddenly tensed up and in her eyes a hint of uneasyness flickered up. “Not today.”

She exhaled visibly and closed her eyes reliefed. Grace let out a little surprised gasp when she felt his fingers curl around her hand. When she looked up into his eyes, there was something intimidating about the way he looked at her.

“I know of many Alphas who are not exactly happy in their bonds because they claimed their wives too early. I don't want to be one of them. I want us to only take this step together when we really feel like we know the other like we know ourselves.”

Grace lifted her hand to stroke the stubble on his cheek before she nodded. What she had mistaken as something intimidating, had been pure worry. About her will to wait for him to be ready for this important development in their lives.

Jack leaned over her and kissed Grace lightly before disappearing through the door to make breakfast.

* * *

 

The food Nina had made for them a few hours later was simply delicious. The starter was a pumpkin-carot soup, the entree was steak and foil potato with self-made sour cream, and the dessert a not too sweet apple pie, also made by Nina herself.

When dinner was over and the Alphas both had their glass of gold-brown scotch in their tumblers while the Omegas sipped their watered wine (to avoid getting drunk and hangover the next morning), Nina and Rick suddenly exchanged prompting glances. Something was going on here and it was making Jack narrow his eyes in suspicion.

“What's up?” he asked and lay his arm around the backrest of Grace's chair next to him. Nina lifted her eyebrows but Rick only stared into his glass with pursed lips. He tried to look a bit too normal to be sincere, Grace thought and hid her smile when Nina let out an irritated groan.

“We plan on having a baby,” she announced out of nowhere and smiled at their guests. Grace smiled too and looked over to Jack before her smile faded promptly. He didn't seem happy about their plans, not at all.

“Uhu,” he murmured and send his little brother a death glare that looked just like his father's, “And how exactly are you going to do it?”

Rick avoided Jack's eyes while Nina returned his glare. “Shouldn't you know that at your age and with a wife of your own?”

Jack clenched his teeth tightly and stood up quickly. He leaned a bit over the table towards his brother and hissed, “Can I talk to you for a second? Outside!”

“Jack, what's wrong?” Grace wanted to know but was only met his disregard by her husband. Rick slowly rose from his chair and followed Jack out of the room.

“God, sometimes I could strangle him,” Nina sneered and emptied the glass of watered wine in one go.

“Why is he so angry? I mean, isn't it something to be happy about? Another niece or a nephew for him.”

Nina looked at her like she wanted to tell her the reason but in the end she only smiled and nodded, “Yes, he could see it as an opportunity to show you that he has fatherly qualities that aren't carbon copies of his dad's.”

Loud voices from outside the door alarmed the women. Nina excused herself and joined the brothers, leaving Grace completely alone in the dinner room. She felt excluded of whatever was going on here and what had gotten into Jack just because his brother wanted to have children. Grace fought the painful thudding in her chest and waited patiently for their return. She listened to the muffled growls and hisses outside the door and tried to make sense of the words she picked up ...or thought she picked up. Selfish, Heat, idiot, unfair, secret.

After ten minutes, ten agonizingly long minutes, Grace finally had enough. She pulled out her phone and texted Jack that she had finished dinner, that it had been delicious and that he would find her waiting in the car when he was done with whatever family-only-conflict he tried to hide from her.

She wasn't even outside the house when she heard Jack call after her. “Grace, I'm sorry. I didn't realize we were talking for so long.”

“I hope you didn't cut off your all important fight with your brother just to run after me,” she hissed and glared at her husband, “I'm perfectly capable of entertaining myself in the car. Go back and keep screaming at your little brother.”

“No, I'm actually done,” Jack snapped back at her and Grace stood with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Do you wanna continue with me now? You left me alone in there to scream at your brother because he wants a family. You sound like you don't want him to have children. What's wrong with you?”

“You don't understand this.”

“Well, then explain it to me, please.”

“No, not yet. Maybe later,” he growled with another glare at her. Grace growled back silently and shook her head before sliding into her seat in the car. She made a show of pulling out her phone and started playing _Tetris_ , not caring a bit about what Jack did or where he was.

He let out a heavy sigh and cursed under his breath because he seemed to have the terrible talent of pissing his wife off like he had made his doctor in it. He dipped back inside the house to say goodbye and drove home a minute later.

They didn't talk on the way home. Jack clenched and unclenched his fingers around the steering wheel and Grace had a really good round playing Tetris, helping her to ignore him as his little punishment ...if that really was something to punish him with.

She only noticed they were home again when Jack turned off the engine and left the car. Grace followed him inside, keeping her eyes fixed on the screen of her phone as she walked past him and straight into the kitchen. She put her phone away and more out of boredom that actual hunger opened the fridge.

“Are you kidding me?” Jack hissed from the door when he saw her in the kitchen, “We just came home from having a three course dinner with Rick and Nina and you search for more food?”

Grace banged the door close, making the bottle on the inside of the fridge door rattle, and glared at him before she wanted to snap at him, but Jack was faster. He leaped forward, pulled her lips to his and kissed away any sharp response she might had had on her tongue already.

“I don't wanna fight anymore,” he breathed against her lips and picked her up by the thighs. Grace's head was wiped clean of any thought of objection. They definitely had argued enough for the weekend and she had already missed his arms around her and his chest pressed against hers.

Jack sat her down on the counter top and pushed her knees further apart, hitching her skirt up higher. His hands were so warm on her soft skin, his fingernails scratching over the outside of her thighs created goosebumps on her entire body. Grace ripped at his tie to get it loose. She wanted to rip his shirt open and press her cheek against the hot skin of his chest.

He grasped her wrists before she could get too wild and smirked at her desperate little mewls. He loved it when she let her masks fall and her animalistic need showed through. Jack buried his face in the crook of her neck and licked over her scent gland, making her gasp into his ear and her whole body shiver under his mouth.

Jack let go of her wrists again and pushed her skirt over her hips until it bunched at her waist and exposed the little wet spot in her underwear. Grace worked on his zipper, tugging on it and letting out a short grunt when it wouldn't move. Her hands were shaking too much for such a simple task. Her body screamed for his. She needed him inside her, to fill her completely, to make her forget her own name for a few minutes and then snuggle into her Alpha's arms where nothing could harm her.

Jack pushed her panties down her legs and unzipped his pants himself with a smirk. Her breath hitched in her throat when Grace's eyes fell on his hard member. The tip was wet with precum. She knew it would be hot when she touched it and spread the precum a bit more over the throbbing length between them. Grace moved closer to the edge of the counter top and spread her legs even wider for him to thrust into her.

Jack took deep breaths and savored the scent of her wet arousal she was so willing to present to him. His cock twitched in anticipation. But instead of pushing all the way inside of her with one hard thrust, Jack decided to tease her a bit. He pressed his tip against her opening, spreading it slowly but not pushing inside.

Grace's eyes fluttered shut and arched her back at the feeling but opened them again when he didn't move any further. Jack's eyes were glued onto her slightly parted lips. He let his big hands glide up her sides and moved them behind her back to unzip her dress. Grace tried to move even closer to the edge to bring him deeper inside her but Jack only chuckled darkly and moved away, still keeping his tip but nothing more inside her.

The look in her eyes turned pleading and her mewls desperate but Jack had no mercy with her. A hot gush of her slick or the way she squeezed her pussy around him didn't help either. He pulled down the top of her dress and her bra and started sucking on her pink, hard nipples.

Grace's eyes fluttered shut again, her mouth hung open in a silent, lustful gasp. Jack tasted salt from her sweat, creating a wonderful flavor in his mouth together with the delicious nuances of her scent and her arousal in his lungs. Grace pulled his hair and angled his head to suck on his lips. She brought her legs around his waist and wanted to finally pull him in but Jack broke the kiss. He clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“So eager,” he rasped against her lips and moved completely out of her. Grace let her head fall back and let out a light groan before she started laughing to herself. He wouldn't leave her high and dry. He was hard and that meant he wanted it too!

All of the sudden, Grace felt his tongue between her legs. She bit her lips to keep her moans down at least a bit when Jack licked long stripes over her glistening folds. Her hands travelled down to his head and she let her fingers curl into tight fists in his damp hair. Jack groped her soft breasts and moaned against her pussy. The vibrations made her whole body shiver and her breath hitch in her throat.

Jack had tried to drive her insane before finally giving her what she wanted but his own desire was making him impatient. With her taste on his tongue he stood up straight again, grabbed her upper highs and pushed into her hard. Grace screamed highly and arched her back. Jack worried for a moment that he might have hurt her but the way her thighs tightened around his hips told him she was more than fine.

He soon found a rhythm that wasn't too hard but still made Grace scream in ecstasy. Her breasts moved with every thrust, tempting him to lean down again and suck on her erect, sensitive nipples. Instead he squeezed and twisted them to highten Grace's desire. Her gasps and moans grew louder and spurted him on to push her over the edge and watch her tumble into a shaking orgasm.

Her eyes suddenly opened wide, her jaw dropped and her legs grew tighter around him. She was close and he would fuck her into oblivion. Jack fixed his eyes on hers and wanted to see her come undone under him. The knot at the base of his cock was already prominent. He was just as close as she seemed to be. Grace reached up to pull his lips down to hers. She wanted to kiss him but her orgasm caught her off guard right before their lips would've met.

She let out a long groan and rolled her eyes back when she came. Her muscles around his cock twitched in a fast rhythm and milked the cum out of him. Jack reached down between them, squeezed his knot tightly and came with a roar and an especially deep thrust without pushing his knot inside her.

Grace dug her nails into his shoulders and held onto him when he filled her with his seed, painting her inner walls a creamy white. Grace couldn't say how many times he had already emptied his balls inside her but it still felt a bit strange to feel the twitch of his cock as he shot his hot cum inside her pussy.

But, God, she loved it!

Grace felt Jack move. He wanted to pull out of her so soon, too soon. She didn't let go of him and buried her face in his shoulder. She took deep, calming breaths. The air between them was heavy with the smell of sex and their mutual desire. It was a primal scent but one that never failed to make her sigh in content.

Jack wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up. The air kissed her coldly as he carried her upstairs into their bedroom. Grace murmured something in the crook of his neck he couldn't understand. After a questioning “Hm?” she repeated, “Not fighting feels great.”

He laughed and lay her down onto the mattress. Grace lifted her arms to let him take off her dress completely and snuggled into her pillows in nothing but her naked skin. His cum slowly seeped out of her but by now it felt almost normal to her. Jack took off his clothes too and joined her under the covers within a heartbeat.

Grace pressed her back against his chest and revelled in the feeling of his warmth and his protective arm wrapped around her waist as they both fell asleep.

* * *

 

The next morning Jack woke Grace with a kiss. She moaned tiredly and blinked the sleep out of her eyes. Her first motion was to look at the phone to check the time but Jack spoke before she could reach for her smart phone.

“It's still early,” he said in a silent voice, “I just wanted to wake you before I leave for golf with Rick and Dad.”

Grace groaned and closed her eyes when she moved her hand over the mattress to him. She blindly reached for his shirt and pulled him closer.

“But don't come home looking like a ghost like the last time when you saw your family,” she muttered with a sleepy voice. Jack leaned down to kiss her sweet pout and promised that he would be home soon.

Fourty minutes later he was at the club and was told by the friendly and probably gay receptionist that his father and brother were already at the private tees. So they wouldn't play the course only hit a few golf balls and go home again. Fine with him because that meant that he would be with Grace sooner but being in the more private part of the club also meant that his father probably had something he wanted to tell Jack. And after the last time he really didn't need another round of his father's scolding.

When Jack was with them, they looked at him like he was a ghost.

“What?” he asked with a sneer, not at his father of course, but Rick was also there.

“We just didn't expect you to come today,” Rick replied.

“Why?”

“Because last time ended with you running away,” Jonathan replied with an arched eyebrow and a snarl on his lips.

“Shall I go again, Dad? I'm sure Grace would be more than happy to find me back in bed next to her,” Jack said with a sarcastic fake smile and already turned on his heel when he heard Rick's “C'mon, don't act like a child. Come here and hit a few golf balls with us before you go back to Grace.”

Jack turned around again and let out a heavy sigh when he let his golf bag slide from his shoulder. He pulled out his stuff and prepared his tee to deliver a few balls before he left again.

“I was told you apologize to you for the things I said about your wife two days ago,” Jonathan started again. Jack only nodded almost desinterested and didn't once look at his father. Rick lifted his head and looked between Jack and their father. The patriarch had never, _never_ , apologized for anything, no matter how wrong or insulting or hurting his words had been. This was a big moment and Jack only set down his golf balls next to his tee.

“By Mom?”

“Of course by your mother.”  


“What were her exact words?” Jack wanted to know, still not visually acknowledging his father.

Jonathan huffed and thought hard about what exactly Diana had said, “She wasn't of the same opinion as Emily and me concerning your wife's dress and her dancing style at the Uncollaring of Fredericka.”

Jack licked over the inside of his teeth he had clenched tightly again. _Your wife_. “Is it so hard for you to call her by her name? You managed with Nicolas and Nina. Is it because her name doesn't start with an _N_?”

“Don't bite the hand that is supporting you and your wife, junior,” Jonathan growled lowly, transporting at least Rick back into his childhood when his father had used this tone to intimidate his misbehaving sons.

He knew he should better find shelter for the coming storm when his father already played the “I'm paying for your food and shelter and you carry my three names”-card. Only now Jack looked at his father and it was a fucking decleration of war.

“You know what? I quit, if that makes you remember that her name is Grace. I worked for other firms before and I can still go back to them!”

It wasn't that easy and Jack knew it. If his father kicked his ass out of the company and he tried to get into another bionic firm, they would all want to know why he had left Hunter Bionics and his father would make sure that they wouldn't employ him. FUCK!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having a lot of trouble with my Internet connection at the monent and so I will upload when possible. Maybe in three days maybe in a week. Just stay tuned for updates.


	16. Happy Birthday, Jack

When Jack had come home from the golf, he had been beaming with anger again. He walked straight through into the garden and punched his fists into one of the old trees at the far end of the garden. Grace waited by the terrace for his return.

“I gather, it wasn't a relaxing little game?”

“No,” Jack growled taciturn and slumbed down on the garden chair opposite from the telescope. Grace sat down on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. She silently purred for him to calm him down again. Jack closed his eyes and nudged his nose against her temple, thankful for the little comfort she was offering him. He didn't want to tell her that she was the reason for the current dispute with his father or that he had just quitted his job out of a hapharazd tantrum like a four-year old.

When she was making dinner he would have to call his father and apologize or write mails to his former employers to see if them wanted him back.

* * *

 

Two weeks later, or on the 23rd June to be exact, Jack was still working in his father's company but they kept their non-work related contact to an absolute minimum because when they met Grace was a hot topic. Jonathan still refused calling her by her name because he still thought she was a mistake his son should get rid off as soon as possible while Jack, almost like a stubborn child held onto her like a cuddly blanket.

But today Jack didn't think of that as it was his 38th birthday and that meant he was king for a day. Grace had worked half the night to prepare two two-story high cakes, two plates of muffins, and a ''little'' surprise for Jack and the guests that would arrive around noon.

She collapsed into the pillows shortly before Jack's alarm rang and woke him. He groaned and pulled her against his chest before he started kissing her shoulder and neck.

“Good morning,” he whispered and pressed his morning wood against her buttocks. Grace bit her lip to keep from snapping at him that she needed her sleep. Instead she rolled on her back and looked at him out of tired eyes. He had been like a child the last three days, leaving little hints around the house to make sure she wouldn't forget that today was his birthday. It was adorable in a way.

But right now Grace was just tired and wanted to catch some sleep before the guests would arrive in a couple of hours.

“Happy birthday,” she whispered and kissed his smirking lips.

“Thanks.” He let his hands wander down her body until they had found their destiny below the waistband of her panties. He groped her ass with clear intentions in his eyes. When asking what he wanted as a present from her, he had always answered the same way: with a smirk and a shrug. Now it was clear that he wanted her. Grace put as much effort into their little morning number as she could and fell asleep even before Jack was out of the bedroom.

Grace woke at 11am, so only four hours later, Jack kissing her awake again. She pulled the blanket over her head until he chuckled and told her the time. She was in the bathroom and under the shower within seconds. She heard him snicker over the sound of the running water.

“When do your guests wanted to arrive?”

“ _Our_ guests, Grace. You are my wife.”

Yes, she thought, and the maid and the cook and gardner and the sexy seductress. A lot of work for one man and one house. Grace saw Jack through the clouded glass walls of the shower cabin and closed her eyes when he undressed. It was his birthday and she still needed to prepare so much stuff and he just wanted to sleep with her. If he continued like his she would be sore by the time the guests arrived.

Grace almost naturally pressed her hands against the wall opposite from the door and spread her legs slightly to offer him easier access to her pussy. Jack growled huskily at the sight of her standing their so willingly and fucked her under the hot spray of water. Their sighs, grunts and mewls, and the sound of wet skin slapping against wet skin when he slammed into her reflected from the hard glass walls around them and hightened the desire for both of them.

Grace let her head hang when she felt her orgasm creep up her spine. She curled her toes and bit her lower lip. There was no need for her to be silent but she still didn't want to scream and shout curses because her husband was doing her sooooo good. By now he knew all the buttons he needed to press to make her lose her mind. It was only the second time they had shower sex and this time she depended on him to hold her up because Grace was sure her knees would buckle when she came.

Jack's right hand stroked up the curve of her back to her shoulder while his left held her hips. He leaned down and kissed her between her shoulder blades before he growled, ”Stand up.”

She did and reached back to hold onto his neck while the water hit her face and chest. Jack's hand wandered down to the little pack of hair between her legs. He had never been keen on the ''girl''-look on women and so he was glad that his wife liked to leave a bit of pubic hair standing when shaving her pussy. He started rubbing her clit while still fucking her hard.

Grace moved her free hand to lay on his between her legs to show him that he was a bit too rough. He got the hint and decided to work a little on her bouncing breasts instead. Grace leaned her head back against his shoulder and rubbed her own fingers over her clit to finally catch that orgasm that was mocking her, already tightening her muscles but not crashing down on her like she wanted it to, needed it to.

Jack dipped his head to suck hard on her scent gland, meaning to leave a bruise. He wanted everyone to know that she was his even without the permanent mark. His chest vibrated from the deep satisfied moan, his knot was achingly hard, his rhythm was turning sloppy and uneven just like her breathing. Jack could feel her heart racing in her chest.

He twisted her nipple hard before letting go of her breast and squeezing his knot when he came. The sensation of his twitching, cum shooting cock inside her pussy made Grace come only a moment later. With a long, drawn-out groan she leaned forward and braced herself against the wall again. Her knees were like jelly. Jack held her up by her hips and dipped his head to kiss her between her shoulder blades again, catching his breath against her wet skin. His cum dripped out of her, mixing with the hot water running down their bodies.

Only slowly, Grace remembered her tasks for the day. She needed to get clean, after just getting dirty with him, had to prepare a few snacks for later, wanted to decorate the terrace and the living room before the guests came and ...Jack was still inside her.

“I still need to prepare so much stuff,” she panted and felt his hands stroke up and down her sides tenderly.

“Means you want to get rid of the birthday child,” Jack chuckled and let go of her. A hot gush of seed dripped out of her when he pulled his softening cock out of her. Grace watched it wash down the drain. Another child that would never been born, it shot through her head but Grace wiped that thought away again. She was too young to have a baby and she wasn't really sure that Jack was ready to be a father yet. Somehow she couldn't see him taking care of a baby yet when he was working 16 hours a day or acted like a cock-driven teenager the other time.

He left her to finally clean herself and walked naked as God had created him once out of the bathroom. Grace washed his semen off and quickly dressed in an easy, purple wrap dress she had already laid down on the chair in the corner last night. A light gasp escaped her when she saw the hickey Jack had left on her neck. He knew how easy she bruised by now. He must've done it on purpose. That bastard!

But she had no time to dwell on it. With naked feet and water still dripping from her hair, she hurried down into the kitchen and worked like a dog while Jack more or less did nothing to help her. What he did was stealing a few bites here and there from the already ready-made plates. Grace slapped his hands away three times before she finally glared at him.

“You could help me instead of causing me more work.”

“But it's my birthday. I took half the day off so that I wouldn't have to work, dearest,” he replied sweetly and picked another one of the pigs in a blanket. Grace clenched her teeth and said nothing. He was also almost fourty and he acted like a teenager, her inner voice sneered. She ignored him and his obvious attempts to unnerv her for the next hour. Her long hair was still not completely dry when she had set the tables, made three cans of coffee, put out the cakes and muffins she had baked last night, apart from the most work-intensive one and her biggest surprise for him, although right now all she wanted was to kick him in the 38-year old teenager ass and go back to sleep. He could entertain his guests himself, she had done everything in her power to make this day perfect so she was technically done.

She only had time to put on a basic make-up and style her hair in a simply english braid before the door bell rang and Rick and Nina, Alex and Carolyn and what felt like 20 other Alphas with or without their mates/wifes/girlfriends entered the house. Nina immediately saw the dark circles under Grace's eyes and asked how she was while everyone else gathered around Jack, handing him bottles with expensive schnaps, whiskeys or wines, boxes with cigars and ...oil paints from Alex. Jack didn't seem too happy but thanked him anyways.

Nina asked if Grace needed any help and she had almost cried out of thankfulness because YES, SHE WANTED SOMEONE TO HELP HER!!! This was the first celebration she had every played host all by herself and she was fucking terrified to make a fool of herself. Jack had only given her an estimated guest list and then told her to do whatever she thought was appropriate for a private celebration.

“Will the rest of the big family come, too?” Nina asked and walked downstairs with Grace to get the surprise cake out of the cold cellar. She had wanted to make sure that Jack didn't find the cake by accident.

“No, at least Jack didn't say anything about them and they weren't on the list he gave me.”

“Maybe better that way. Especially with Alex being here. He and Emily don't go well together.”

“Why not?” Grace wanted to know and opened the door to the laundry room with the cake in it.

“Let's just say that she once made a very distasteful, really _stupid_ joke about his arm and he almost broke hers for it,” Nina told her with lifted eyebrows and saw Grace's surprised “oh”-shaped mouth. She couldn't say that she was sorry for Emily because Alex didn't seem aggressive so if something happened to her she would've probably deserved it, although they hadn't really exchanged a word with each other.

When they were finally in the laundry room, Nina gasped when she saw the giant square cake in the shape of a rubik's cube. It looked amazing, impressive and heavy.

“Are you sure we can carry it upstairs without something happening to it? Would be one hell of a shame after all the work you obviously put into it,” she asked carefully.

“I managed to bring it down here myself at 4am when I was finally done baking. I'm sure we can manage to get it upstairs again together.”

Grace sighed tiredly and wiped her hand over her forehead. She could hardly keep her eyes open anymore and the guests had just arrived! This day was going to be terrible with a frozen smile on her lips until her cheeks hurt.

They, indeed, managed to get the plate with the cake upstairs again and the guests whistled impressed as they placed the cake on the bar counter in the kitchen. Jack was outside in the garden with a glass of champagne in his hand talking to Rick. They had seperated themselves from the other guests and looked serious, completely sucked into their conversation until Nina called them inside.

Grace kneaded her hands nervously when she waited for his eyes to fall on her little masterpiece. Alex had laughed heartily when he had seen the cake and looked excited to see his friend's reaction. Jack stopped in his tracks as soon as he saw the rubik's cube. Grace's face turned pale when she waited for his reaction. She exclaimed a nervous, “Ta-da” and smiled warily. Alex claped him on his friend's shoulder and finally Jack said something.

“What the hell?” He walked towards the cake and scanned it like he wasn't sure what to do with it. Grace swallowed hard and opened her mouth to explain that she had seen a picture of him as a, probably, six-year old in his office, beaming with pride and holding a solved rubik's cube into the camera, but his lips silenced her immediately.

“So, you like it?” she whispered against his lips and sighed reliefed when he nodded and replied, “It's perfect. I don't think, you even know how perfect it is.”

“I ...I saw the picture in your office upstairs. I thought it must've meant a lot if you have it on your desk.”

“So, are we getting a taste of it, or what?” Alex interrupted them and the other guests agreed. Nina brought a big knife and a couple of plates and Jack started slicing small pieces of the perfect square. Grace was proud of herself that her all-nighter had at least earned her a kiss and a compliment from her husband. After a little over a month of marriage she still had the feeling that she hardly knew him and he wasn't exactly giving away much of himself over the dinner table and other than there they hardly spend time together.

The guests sat down on the couches, chairs, the garden chairs on the terrace and the bar stools, just everywhere they could. The house was filled with people, their voices and scents. Grace soon had enough and needed fresh air before her headaches could get any stronger. Jack was in deep conversation with a few couples she didn't know and he hadn't introduced to her. Fine with her. Grace could hardly keep her eyes open and her smile on her lips.

As soon as she was alone outside and the voices and many different scents lay behind her, she was instantly feeling better. Her head was getting clearer again and it was only reminding her of how little she had slept. The main point for her was that her husband was enjoying his birthday with his friends. She had done her work and would've loved to just go to bed and catch some sleep but that would've been impolite and a show of disrespect towards his friends and she so wanted to be perfect.

Grace slumped down on the white metal bench in the back of the garden. It was hidden between lilac and Chinese wisteria. She couldn't see the house from here and nobody in the house could see her. Grace told herself that she would only stay here for a few minutes before returning to the celebrations.

But a few minutes turned into an hour in which she told herself over and over again that she had to go back but her body wouldn't move.

Jack had almost immediately noticed her disappearance but only turned concerned now and searched for her until a few old college friends on the terrace guided him towards her little hideaway. She had her face cradled in her hands and her elbows probbed up on her knees.

Grace didn't hear him come closer or noticed him sitting down next to her. Only when he softly called her name and lay his arm around her waist, she loudly sucked in air through her nose and blinked a few times when she looked at him. It took a second before her mouth curled up into a smile again.

“Why are you here all alone?”

She needed a second before she answered, “Too many people inside. You should go back or they'll be missing you.”

“Right now I'm missing you inside. I want to show off my beautiful wife who bought the most perfect cake for me.”

“I made it,” she whispered tiredly and leaned her head against his shoulder. Jack had hardly heard her and lifted his eyebrows even more impressed. He hadn't expected her to put so much effort into his birthday and he had only caused more work.

“When?”

Grace sat up straighter again and stood up. “Your guests are missing you. Let's go back inside or they will eat away everything and we'll be left with empty counters.”

Jack smiled lop-sided and got up as well. He interlaced his fingers with hers and kissed her sweet lips. They walked back inside and only Nina looked at her a little concerned. She was an Omega too and also an outsider to the great Hunter-family. Yet, she had never been in Grace's situation with Rick not being ''the important son'' and heir to the family realm. It was Jack's duty to have big parties and invite not just his real friends but also business associates to cement the relationships with them for possible future projects. And little Gracey had to suffer under it.

But she managed to wear her smile like an armor and stayed by Jack's side for the rest of the afternoon. Nina watched the mask she was wearing at her young age with admiration. The only thing that gave her tiredness away were the dark circles under her eyes one only noticed when they knew how she looked when she wasn't exhausted.

She couldn't understand how Jack didn't realize that Grace wanted to fall asleep in his arms ...or really anywhere. When the men laughed she snickered with them but never said a word. It was obvious that she wasn't following the conversation and only reacted to the others' reactions.

Grace daydreamed while her husband talked to one wealthy Alpha after the other. First it was about work, then boxing and after a while of not even half-listening Grace picked up on Jules Vernes as the topic of conversation.

“It's getting late, Jack. If you still wanna go somewhere, we should do it now. Remember, tomorrow is a workday,” Alex said when the sun was getting lower and lower on the horizont.

Go somewhere?, Grace thought almost terrified. She could hardly keep her eyes open now and he wanted to go somewhere? Please say no, please!

“You're right.” Jack looked at his watch and stood up from the couch. He clapped his hands a few times to get everyone's attention. “Who wants to come with me to the _Alfie's_?”

A few people rose their glasses and bottles of beers while others scrunched their faces or shook their heads. The ones who wouldn't accompany him to the club said goodbye while the others called their babysitters to let them know they would be gone for another couple of hours.

Grace wanted to ask Jack to go alone so that she could clean up the mess the party guests had left behind and maybe go to bed earlier but she could hear her mother's words echo in the back of her head, “A good wife is always presentable and present.”

Half an hour later, thanks to the Wednesday evening traffic, Grace sat on a black leather couch in a private lounge with Jack's arm draped around her shoulders. She had uttered a few worries about the safety in a club but Jack had explained that the Alfie's was one of three Omega-clubs in Flint, taking extra care in making sure that the upper-class couples could celebrate without having to worry about anything or anyone.

Nina was already on the dance floor, letting her hips swing seductively to the beat of the thudding music. A few other Omegas did the same, making Grace one of three who weren't dancing. The other two were pregnant, one showing heavily, the other only a little. Grace head was pounding painfully in the fast rhythm of the house music. She wanted to run outside and scream her frustration out until her lungs hurt. But she remained in her husband's arms as he drank more whiskey and laughed with one of his office friends. She was drifting off into daydreaming again when she felt Jack's lips by her ear, “Don't you wanna dance a little, too? I enjoyed watching you at Fredericka's Uncollaring.”

She forced herself to smile and stood up. Nina frowned when she saw Grace walk towards her.

“You okay?” she screamed over the music. Grace didn't answer. She only closed her eyes and let her body react to the loud music. With her hands over her head she twirled and didn't care if her dress hitched up too high, showing the lacy tops of her stockings, or if her hair fell into her face. Right now she wasn't tired anymore, she only worked. Her husband wanted to feast on her dancing, so she would dance for him.

Suddenly Nina was gone from the dance floor but Grace didn't care anymore. She was with the Alphas on the couch, telling Jack in her most charming voice that he should stop being a selfish or blind prick and bring his wife home who had worked the whole night for his birthday to be a success.

Jack glared at his sister-in-law but after another close look at his wife he had to admit that she was right. Jack said goodbye and thanked his friends for coming and eventually hugged Grace from behind, swaying with her a little and rasping into her ear that it was time to go home.

“We only just arrived,” Grace replied with a slight frown but could hardly keep her eyes open, especially now with his arms to keep her warm and holding her up on her feet. He kissed the hickey he had left under the shower. It was dark and prominent by now, marking her at least visibly as his. He kissed up a small trail to her ear and repeated, “Let's go home, Grace.”

She smelled the whiskey in his breath but knew that Alpha's could hardly get drunk. Grace nodded slightly and let him bring her outside in their car. As soon as she sat on her seat, Jack had placed his suit jacket over her like a blanket and closed the door, she fell asleep.

He looked at her on their way home, purring lightly whenever she would make a noise in her sleep. Arriving home, Jack made sure he wouldn't wake her when he carried her inside the house and eventually lay her down on their bed. Her wrap dress was making it easier for him to undress her. Grace stirred awake when he tried to open the clasp of her bra behind her back.

“What are you doing, you pervert?” she moaned tiredly and was met with narrowed eyes but a lop-sided grin.

“I just want to make you feel comfortable.”

She sat up and helped him take off her purple lace bra. None of them bothered getting her sleep shirt out of her walk-in closet. Jack took off his clothes too and snuggled under the blankets with her. Now that Grace could've fallen asleep without anything, she couldn't.

“I'm sorry,” she sighed against his chest.

“For what?”

“For not dancing at the Alfie's anymore.”

Jack made a litte “mh”-sound but only pulled her closer to him. “And yet I think this was the best birthday I ever had ...apart from the one I solved the rubik's cube.”

Grace lifted her head to look at him. “So that photo in your office-”

“Is from my sixth birthday and my father said if I managed to solved that rubik's cube the same day I would get the bike I actually wanted.”

“Charming to connect gifts for his child to conditions.”

Jack started laughing lowly. “I wished for a Harley Davidson, not a dirt bike.”

“Oh.”

“And I actually got the bike but only for my 16th birthday and I crashed it the same day, to be honest. So, at least I gained my father's respect for 10 years before I destroyed it within a few hours again.”

Grace thought it strange to keep a memory of such a thing on his desk. Was he trying to remember what it felt like when his father had been proud of him as inducement for coming tasks? Or just to remind him that he had been a smart child? For Grace it would only ever remind her that his father was shallow. One shouldn't just be proud of their son because he solved a puzzle but because they were their child.

Grace was suddenly afraid that Jack would be like that with their children and remembered what Nina had said about his fatherly qualities being carbon copies of his own father's. She felt Jack's even breath under her cheek and saw that he had fallen asleep. Something she longed for but couldn't do anymore until long after midnight.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we slowly start with the Heat-section of the genre, but again I can't say when the chapter will be up.


	17. “The. Rest.”

Jack noticed two weeks later that Grace's scent slightly changed. It was drawing him closer to her whenever he was home, smelling sweeter and earthier than usual.

When he came home from work every day, Grace was making soul food, fat and delicious! He didn't say a word when he saw her giant plates, gathering that he shouldn't point out the fact that she was probably gaining a pound a day if she ate like that. No woman, Beta or Omega, wanted to hear that she was getting ...rounder.

Grace also got to bed earlier which was pretty shitty because she also picked up the habit of steeling his pillow and rolling herself into the blanket they shared so that he was left with nothing. Jack had tried pulling at least his pillow out of her iron grasp but her almost vicious, sleepy growl had stopped him, it had almost sounded like a hiss, almost.

On the second night he had retrieved a pillow and blanket from one of the guest rooms, went to the bathroom for a few minutes to brush his teeth and upon his return to the bedroom, he saw that Grace had snatched the new bedding too, creating a soft cocoon around her.

“You gotta be kidding me,” he sighed and tried freeing his new items and this time was met with an angry hiss and a vicious glare. What the fuck?

“Get yourself new bedding,” she growled and cuddled deeper into her now three pillows.

“I got myself new bedding until you stole it again,” he protested but Grace had already fallen asleep. Great, and off into the second guest room for the last bed with pillow and blanket in it. He hated this room and tried not to stay a minute too long in here. This had been the bathroom when this house had still been Frederick's and Margot's house. This was the very room they had killed themselves a few days apart from each other.

With goosebumps on his arms, he snatched what he needed and banged the door close again when he was done. He shivered slightly before walking back into his own bedroom. Now he would take better care of his stuff. Put it on the mattress and staple it down with your body, he thought and that method worked, although partly because Grace was already asleep.

The next morning his back hurt and as soon as he opened his eyes he knew why. His pillow and blanket had found their way into the pile Grace was sleeping in and he had a sore neck now. Great.

“What are you doing!?” Grace screeched when he dismantled her pillow fort a bit roughly.

“I'm taking a blanket at a pillow because three beddings need to be enough for one person! You can't be that cold.”

“Get new ones!” she argued and gripped the pillow he wanted to take away like a lifeline. Her face was angry but in her eyes there was also a hint of panic.

“We don't have more, Grace.”

“Then buy new ones. They won't be enough anyways,” she hissed, ripped the pillow out of his hands and pulled it with her into her blanket cave in which she hid away from any more disturbances from her husband.

Jack got up mumbling curses under his breath and returned an hour later with a new set of bedding while Grace was just making breakfast. Even now she carried a blanket with her like she was a child. When he made a show of putting down the plastic bags and proudly pointed to his stitched in initials she only stared at him in shock.

“What's that?”

“My _personal_ bedding. With my name on it. If you touch it, I will kick you and your cocoon out of the bedroom. It's that simple.”

Grace shook her head and looked down the hallway to see if this was a stupid joke. “And where is the rest?”

Jack stole himself a piece of her sliced orange and furrowed his brows in confusion. “What rest?”

“The. Rest.”

“There is no rest. What the hell are you talking about?”

Grace turned pale from one second to the other before her cheeks not only returned to their rosy color but blushed almost scarlet red in anger. She slapped his hand away with a loud smack and searched his jacket and the pockets of his Sunday leisure jeans for his smart phone. His protests and questions fell on deaf ears. When she had finally found it and typed a few letters into his search engine she still ignored him and his half-hearted tries to get his phone back.

When she eventually shoved the expensive device back into his hands, Grace was vibrating with anger. Jack had never see her like this before and hoped he never would see it again when she strode past him and ran up the stairs.

Jack looked down to the screen in his hands and frowned. ''The consequences of no or not sufficient nesting during an Omega's Heat by Prof Dr med. Nigella Winslet.'' It was an online article, long and informative but Jack wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with it. They were married for seven weeks and a few days now and her Heat wouldn't be until another 10 days. He had fucking marked the date in his calendar!

Anyways, he read the article and swallowed hard by the content.

_''… Insufficient nesting material or a lack of a safe place for the Omega to build her nest can result in depression, anxiety attacks, temper tantrums, crying fits, cardiac arrythmias (possibly fatal), lack of hunger, or even Heat skips due to the body not sensing the safety it needs to enter the hot phase of Heat. Nesting begins approximately after the first four days of PreHeat and eight days before the mating cycle's end.''_

“PreHeat?” Jack murmured, trying to remember his biology lessons on that topic. But his mind had been blank as soon as he'd read ''Heat skips''. He couldn't wait another cycle before he knotted her.

 _''Young Omegas or Omegas who have not build many nests before, especially for their mate and them, enter the building phase earlier and are usually accompanied by moodiness and nervousness. It is vital for the mate to provide enough nesting material of many different sizes and hardness for the Omega to pick and rearrange as needed. During the building phase the Omega enteres the so called_ Omega space _, meaning that she forgets her surroundings, physical need and possible dangers completely. It's the mate's task to make sure his Omega survives this building well-fed as the coming Heat will not provide any space for food intake ...''_

So that what's going on, he concluded internally, but still found it very early to enter the building phase if PreHeat only started in ten days. Unless …

He flicked through the article on the search for an answer. He knew that Beta cycles weren't counted from the ovulation because it could slightly vary and wasn't as easy to determine as the first day of menstruation. His previous relationships had tought him that much.

Jack groaned when he realised that he really should've been more attentive in school. Omega cycles started with PostHeat said the article and smacked him over the head with his own ignorance. He had had enough time in his life to gather knowledge what it was like to be with an Omega, his whole life he had known that no realtionship he had had with a Beta woman would've lasted forever.

Jack grabbed his new bedding to bring it upstairs and ask Grace how many more pillows and blankets he needed to get and if she had any preferences on the material.

Well, he would ask her ...as soon as he found her. The door to her realm was wide open and the room empty. The bathroom held the same image. The bedroom looked like it was untouched. The pillows were still hidden under the igloo of blankets, didn't look like she was here either.

Where the hell was his wife? She hadn't left, he would've noticed that. He dropped the new pillow and blanket on his side of the bed and sat down on the edge of it with a heavy sigh.

Suddenly he saw movement from the corner of his eye. A delicate hand sneaked out from under the blanket roof and wanted to pull the new pillow into the cozy cave but Jack quickly grabbed the edge of the pillow with a smirk. She tried a bit harder and made him snicker when a second hand appeared to help the first one.

He let her have it and lay down flat next to the cocoon.

“May I enter the holy halls of fluffyness?” he asked and looked at her through a tiny opening that let in light and oxygen. Grace pursed her lips and looked anything but convinced. “I won't take away any of the pillows from you.”

“Swear,” she whispered defiantly.

Jack smiled into his cheek before replying, “Asshole.”

Grace huffed a laugh and shook her head slightly, “Idiot.”

She lifted the edge of her blankets for him and he scooped closer to her before she dropped the cozy roof over them. She snuggled into his chest and sucked in his scent deeply.

“Pretty dark in here ...and warm,” Jack purred into her hair under his nose.

“Mh-mh. Just perfect,” Grace sighed contently. It was perfect now with him in here with her to keep her safe and satisfied.

“I read the article. I'm gonna get you your nest-to-be and wanted to ask if you have any wishes in particular.”

She shook her head slowly.

“Then how many pillows will you need? How many blankets?” He could feel her shrug. “10? 15? 20?” “25 of various sizes and hardnesses. But I have never build a nest for two people or in such a big bed,” she murmured against his chest.

“So, 25 pillows plus x for safety and what about blankets?”

“Same.”

Jack kissed the crown of her head and nodded. “I'll be back in an hour or two with everything you'll need.”

She mumbled something like “Don't be gone for too long” before she slipped into sleep. The article had also talked about that Omegas not only ate more during PreHeat but also slept a lot and needed the safety of their mate's presence.

* * *

 

Jack found her dressed in one of his favorite sweaters when he returned 1 1/2 hours later. Her face was buried in the pillow he usually slept on and smirked when he saw her take a deep breath and her eyes flutter open.

He sat down next to her and wiped a strand of her long hair behind her ear before she crawled onto his lap and wanted to fall asleep again in his arms but Jack wouldn't let her just yet. “I've got the car full with your nesting material. Do you wanna help me get it inside?”

Grace nodded but didn't move.

Jack had to gently push her off his lap, under her mewling protest of course, but took her hand and pulled her downstairs with him. He had already brought half the bedding he had bought for her into the hallway where she stopped in her tracks when she saw the mass of pillows and blankets around her. At the moment she felt like entering her personal paradise. Jack opened the door and waited for her to come with him.

When he turned around, the air was knocked out of his lungs. Grace had jumped up into his arms and wrapped her arms and legs tightly around him now. She had never showed this kind of behavior before. This dependence or need for contact, this longing for comfort and coziness.

After the initial little shock had subsided, he wrapped his arms around her too. She had her head tugged into the crook of his neck and sighed contently when he stroked his hands up and down her back.

Jack wouldn't complain that she was suddenly a cuddler par excellence and seeked contact and comfort. But he let her down after a minute or two to finally get the rest of the bedding out of the car.

He silently asked himself if she would let him help with their nest or if she might expect his help. He had never thought about such things and it was too late to consult Google about it. Jack hoped she would tell him what to do ...what a strange thought for an Alpha.

When they had brought everything Jack had bought under the arched eyebrows of a high end shop manager into the bedroom, Grace started unpacking the shopping bags like a child on Christmas morning. Jack watched her from the doorway and smiled when she pressed the pillows one by one against her chest and face to test the softness. She made one pile of really soft bedding and another for the bit harder ones.

She was so sucked into her work that she almost didn't realize Jack standing there and watching her. Only when he moved to leave her alone with her work, she looked at him with big eyes.

“Where are you going?”

“I wanted to order us something,” he replied calmly as a counter weight to her slight panic.

She violently shook her head, walked to him, grabbed his hand and pulled him to where she had been sitting. She sat down on the floor again and pretty much ignored him again while sorting through the pillows and blankets again. Jack watched her for a minute or two before he sat down next to her. She naturally moved closer to him and even sat down between his legs while she continued her work. Jack was amazed about the change in her demeanor. He liked it, her biology suddenly taking over her thoughts and actions.

He leaned his chin onto her shoulder from behind and watched her work. It was the most natural thing he had ever seen. She knew exactly what she was doing, every move of her hands seemed to be dictated by instinct and evolution. Grace was testing the material he, her male, had brought her for their nest.

Despite being on birth control her body was telling her to make everything perfect for creating a baby together. Her scent was making him change too. Jack loved burying his nose in her hair and taking deep breaths no matter what, but where he would've pressed his lips on hers and made her sigh his name in ecstasy, he was now only closing his arm in a tight embrace around her middle to hold her closer and keep her safe. From what? He didn't know. His biology told him to be protective and so he was.

He loosened his arms around her middle when she leaned forward to get a pillow that was a bit farther away but she stopped in the middle of her movement. She grabbed his hands, pulled them back around her middle like they had lain before and leaned into his hold while grabbing the pillow. Jack couldn't help but snicker about her behavior.

She pressed the pillow against her chest. Grace scrunched her nose and turned around to him. She pressed the pillow against his chest and looked at him questioningly. “Hard or soft?”

“It's a pillow,” he replied with an arched eyebrow.

Her face remained completely serious when she simply said, “I know.”

He touched the pillow with a lop-sided grin and tested the softness with his hand. “Hard.”

She nodded and threw the pillow on the ''hard'' pile before turning back around to Jack and wrapping her arms around his chest. He sucked her scent in deeply and held his breath for a second just to taste it on his tongue a bit longer.

In the back of his mind he tried telling himself that what was going on now was just a phase, prompted by her biology. It would be over again in a few days and she'd be back to her cool self. A part in him regretted that, another, the more reasonable part, was happy about it. As much as Jack liked her to be cuddly and almost dependent on his presence as it was written in the article, he couldn't go to work without feeling guilty when Grace was like this. God, he needed to get a couple of days off for her Heat and PreHeat it seemed.

“I have to call my father,” he said thoughtfully and felt Grace move. Her head slowly rose from his chest and she looked at him like nothing had happened, arched eyebrow and cool features. She instantly backed away and stood up to replace the bedding she had horted previously with the pillows and blankets from the ''hard'' pile.

“Go ahead,” she snapped and refused to let her eyes wander to him.

Jack furrowed his brows in confusion. That was fast ...like a cold shower for his emotions.

“To tell him, I'll stay home for the next couple of days.”

Her hands stilled just as she was folding two blankets half way to create something similar to a border for her nest. Grace blinked twice and her head slowly turned towards him. “Couple of days?”

“Until your Heat is over.”

“That's not a couple of days, that's over a week.”

Jack stood up and picked out his phone. He dialed his father's number and didn't even wait for him to ask what Jack wanted.

“I will not be able to come to work. Grace has her Heat so I'll stay home. I still have a few unused holidays from last year and want to take them now. Rick knows where he can find all necessary papers in my office. He also has the key.”

Jack hung up before his father could even breathe in. Grace looked at him wide eyed. She looked down to the blanket roll in her hands. “You wanna help me now that you've got time en masse?”

Of course he wanted to help her build their nest if she let him, he thought and closed the distance between them.

 


	18. Sleepless Nights

Jack stood on the opposite side of the bed and followed Grace's orders when he helped her build their first nest.

It was amazing how calm she was when she gave the order of how to roll up the blankets the right way, where they were supposed to lay. Some were only rolled up half way, some placed flat over the others to make it all a bit more stable. Jack could already make out the shape of their nest.

It was round and the borders high enough to keep them from falling out when they were thinking of other, more important things.

And they were getting taller the more "hard" blankets she lay over them. Jack watched the nest form and grow more and more cozy. The bed was in and on itself comfy but she was making it even more comfortable. He wasn't sure he would be able to sleep in such a plush bed.

Well, he wasn't supposed to sleep in it anyways, he thought and shook his head at himself. Grace immediately stopped tugging at one blanket corner and looked at him with lifted eyebrows.

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing,” he replied and saw her swallow thickly. Her features turned ...sad all of the sudden and he was lost. Grace let go of the blanket and looked down to the beginning of their nest. She almost tenderly let her hand glide over the many layers of fabric and with a silent sniff started pulling everything apart again.

“What are you doing?” Jack asked a little shocked.

“It's terrible, you're right.”

Jack walked around the bed to stop her from destroying everything they had already put together. With his hands on her shoulder, he turned her around to look at him. Her muscles under his palm were rock hard. This was all taking a serious toll on her it seemed. But why? This wasn't her first nest, right? Right?

She had mentioned something about a nest but he had, as so often in his life, not paid enough attention. He was lucky that Grace couldn't give him detention like his English teacher had done whenever she had caught him doodling little robots on his desk instead of reading in their text book.

“The nest is perfect, Grace. I was thinking of something else.”

That sentence didn't seem to help his case as he found himself in front of their bedroom door only a second later.

“You can think of something else than OUR NEST OUTSIDE!” she screamed out of her mind angry before slamming the door shut.

Wow, moodiness and temper tantrum at it's finest, he thought and uncurled his fists again. It was a reflex when someone acted aggressive towards him. He would never hit her. Grace was too small and not strong enough to actually injure him. He had learned to control himself the hard way.

With a sigh he walked downstairs and finished the long forgotten breakfast. He contemplated bringing her a tray upstairs but didn't want to disturb her just yet. In the end she would only throw it at him.

Grace was mumbling curse after curse while rearranging the already laid out blanket rolls and top layers. She knew the nest had been perfect. Other than most of the other Omegas at Woodlark she had had more than two "getting a normal cycle"-Heats but three to make extra sure she had the nesting thing right ...and because thanks to her mother's hypochondria she had been against taking the Heat Suppression pills until she couldn't have beared the thought of another draining Heat. But because Grace wasn't 17 anymore she had been out of the routine for more time than her school mates, she was worried.

Jack disturbed her when she was half way done with the hard outline of their nest an hour later. The knock on the door stopped her incoherent mumbling and she glared back at the door.

“What do you want?”

The tray in his hands was answer enough. He had reheated some of the soul food from yesterday, sweet potato pie, and just looked at her calmly. Oh, thank God. Food and he wasn't angry because she had kicked him out. Grace crawled over the bed towards the door and hugged him tightly. Jack had to balance the tray to avoid a mess.

“The nest looks great,” he mumbled into her hair and let his eyes wander over the oval shape she had created with the first half of the blankets and already saw at the top and bottom some pillows.

“Thank you,” she breathed against his chest and inhaled the smell of the food he had brought her. “Shall we eat here?” Grace looked around and shook her head. She didn't want to spoil the bed/nest and she didn't want to sit on the floor when eating. No, it should be comfortable but not matter if it got dirty or not.

“Living room.” He carried the tray back downstairs, closely followed by Grace. She had her pointer fingers hooked through the belt loops at his backside to stay close to him.

Jack smiled to himself at her behavior again. He would enjoy the next days, he was sure of that. Grace slumbed down on the couch next to him and waited until he had put down the tray properly before diving into the food.

Jack watched her, slowly chewing the pie while she was already done with her meal. He offered her his portion as well but Grace shook her head.

“Eat if you're hungry. The internet told me to stuff you with food.”

“You're making me fat,” she said with full mouth.

“We'll train it off again,” he smirked and was reliefed when she just laughed and nodded. Grace spend the rest of the day perfecting the nest. She was tired early and went to bed even before the evening news.

Jack joined her soon after. The neat was surprisingly comfortable despite sinking in half a meter into the pillows and blankets. But as early as the night had started, as early it was ended. Jack felt someone pushing into his side and just as he was slowly waking up another punch landed right on his chest.

“Ouch!” he protested and looked up at Grace's face over him.

“Get up!” she hissed and shoved against his side to make him move. Jack grasped her wrists and groaned when he sorted his thoughts.

“Why?”

“The nest is terrible. I have to fix it. I can't sleep.”

Jack let go of her wrists and reached over the border of the nest to turn on his bedside lamp. “What are you talking about?”

“Look at it! It's hideous!” she screeched.

“No, it's not. You did a wonderful job and if it weren't for you I'd be still sleeping like a baby.”

Grace looked at him with pleading eyes. “Please let me fix it real quick.”

Jack was too tired for this game. He shook his head, pulled her down onto his chest, turned off the light again and purred until Grace was silently snoring.

The next morning she didn't speak with him because he had manipulated her into sleeping when she had wanted to fix the nest. He saw now what her "real quick" was in reality. Grace dismantled the whole nest, tried using half the hard and the whole soft bedding, no. Tried only soft bedding, no.

Only hard bedding, no. Used the whole hard bedding and half the soft, perfect.

It took her two days and nights to finally figure it out. Jack napped on the couch to get the sleep he wasn't granted at night. He took care that she didn't starve to death while building their nest. One time, she hissed at him for interrupting her but everything was fine when she saw he was bringing food!

When the nest hab been complete and she was blissfully looking down at her work, she turned towards Jack with her pale pink pill container in her hands. He looked at her with an arched eyebrow when he took it.

“During my Heat I need to keep taking the pills. I will keep my alarm on so you know when you'll have to wake me and stuff me with the pills every morning. They are exactly as many in there that I will need.”

Her voice sounded normal again, cool and composed like before her nest builing.

“Stuff you with the pills?” he asked skeptically.

“As far as I remember my Heats I had to be forced to drink water to avoid dehydration. You'll need to take care of that too.”

Jack hadn't known how much responsibility would lay on his shoulders with an Omega in the house. Keeping her safe and sound, providing for her every need, giving her water and medication. He felt like he was a caretaker in an elderly home. Though his experience with taking care of anyone or anything were close to zero.

“I told you I even kill cacti and you expect me to keep you alive,” he huffed and tried to make joke but his eyes spoke a different story.

“Yes, I do. It's your nature like it's mine.”

* * *

 

Jack woke two days later from a grunt next to him. When he opened his eyes he saw Grace peeling off her damp clothes. Sweat was running down her back and neck. The room smelled fantastic, like paradise and heaven combined, sweet and musky. He can feel himself getting hard just from the way she smelled. The sun was just rising when he sat up to see if Grace is alright.

As soon as his hand made contact with her skin, he pulled it away again. She was burning!

Well, it's called Heat for a reason, he thought and soon found her straddling him and grinding her wet pussy against his hard cock. Her head was leaned back, her eyes closed, her mouth open as he watched a drop of sweat run down her body between her full, soft breasts.

Jack was mesmerized and soon realised that she had been right, telling him he had to take care of her water intake. She was riding him like a wild horse. He liked to see her taking over the lead but when it came to their first knotting Jack couldn't keep his hands from her anymore.

His name tumbled from her beautiful lips when she approached her first Heat orgasm with him together. The first time he would knot her. Jack couldn't wait for it! He closed his hands tightly around her hips and slammed into her when he felt her inner muscles tighten around his cock. Her orgasmic mewl turned into a painful cry when he knotted her. Her hands curled into tight fists on his chest. Jack roared with closed eyes and bucking hips as he shot his cum deep inside her. He felt her collapse on his chest, her breath puffed against his sweaty skin.

Grace didn't move, out of fear the pain between her legs would get worse if she did. Jack noticed the smell of a tiny bit of blood in the air and held her tightly while his cock slowly stopped twitching inside her. He purred for her deeply, wanting to let her know just how much he enjoyed being with her like this. Jack didn't see the smeared blood between them when his knot had disappeared again and they weren't locked together anymore.

Grace mind wasn't allowing the pain to sink in completely. She knew it was a new sensation, a pressure that had been forced inside her and had given her an incredible feeling but the fact that it had drawn blood wasn't important enough to concern her with it.

They fucked for four days like this, sometimes she would wake him with her lips on his or sucking on his neck, straddling him and grinding her pussy against his soft cock until it was hard again, saying the most dirtiest things Jack had ever heard and never thought he would've hear coming from his wife. Other times he woke her and growled at her lowly when she refused to take the pill but would rather go back to sleep or fuck him again.

They soon found out that knotting from behind was not the best method. Because it meant that Jack would lay on her until the knot was gone again, or he would carefully have to turn them both on the side which hurt them as laying behind each other in a spooning position was still pulling uncomfortably at the knot.

It was a learning process, a tiring one. His sleeping schedule was completely off because as soon as she woke when the desire was making it impossible for her to remain asleep, she would wake him. The sleeping pauses were not longer than 20 minutes at the beginning but turned longer as the Heat proceeded until it was up to four hours between their fucking frenzies by the end of day four.

* * *

 

Grace woke the morning of the fifth day of her Heat, first day of PostHeat with a sore ...everything. Everything hurt and she silently groaned when she felt the first strong menstruation cramps twist her guts tightly. She turned around to see if Jack had really taken care of her BC but her husband's face was in the way. They had changed sides during the Heat. She was laying on his and he on her side of the bed. His cowlick was sticking out and he was sporting a short beard due to his inability to shave while being in a mating frenzy.

Grace liked the look of it, made him look less sharp while increasing his masculinity. Maybe if she asked him nicely, he would leave it for at least her PostHeat? No, probably not. He would have to return to his work asap and that meant today. She was no longer in vital need for his touch and comfort and his time off from work ended today. He had meticulously planned his vacation days and his father already didn't seem to be her greatest fan, for whatever reason, so keeping his golden son from their company a day longer than necessary probably wouldn't improve their relationship.

Jack was snoring lightly. Sometimes he pulled his eyebrows together or flutter his eyelids without waking. Grace wondered what he might be dreaming about. With her eyes fixed on his, she leaned upwards and tenderly kissed his bearded cheek. She hadn't meant to wake him but Jack sucked in air deeply and opened his eyelids.

His first move was to pick up his watch from the bedside table and check the time. 7:32 am. In 28 minutes the no-baby alarm would've woken him anyways so he could give her her pill now and fuck her until she was asleep and hooked to him again.

But when he wanted to grab the next pill, the little pink container was empty. Jack groaned tired and tried to remember where she stored her pills but hadn't she said she had laid out the correct amount?

Jack turned around to check her condition and let out a sigh of relief when her eyes looked a bit darker around the edges but focused and her breath didn't leave her mouth in little puffs but calm in- and exhales again.

“Good morning,” she whispered and let her index finger stroke along his hidden jawline. She liked the little silver hairs that were already threaded in the dark brown, soft beard around his chin.

“Thank God, it's finally over,” Jack breathed out and let his head fall back into the pillows.

Taken aback, Grace lifted herself from him and scrunched her nose when she finally noticed the smells in the room. Dried cum and slick, their sweats mingled together, dried and fresh blood. She only faintly remembered the pain when he had knotted her for the first time but the ones after that had felt amazing. At least in her lust-filled, desperate brain at the time. Now she was embarrassed by the things she had said, sighed and screamed. Grace sincerely hoped that he might forget it and not think her a slut.

Jack sat up and peeled the covers from his naked body. He hurt. Never in his entire life, Jack would've expected that one day he would be glad that he could finally _not_ have sex anymore. His cock felt sore from her ongoing ''assault'' over the last four days. At the end of day two erections had already felt uncomfortable. By the time of yesterday evening he tried finishing as fast as possible just so it could be over.

He was fucking hungry! His body hurt. He reeked of sex and ...blood. He looked down to his poor, tormented cock and saw smeared traces of blood on the base of it where his knot would appear shortly before ejaculating.

The first time he had pushed his knot inside her had been painful and bloody. In his mind he could vividly remember her expression and sob when he held her against his shoulder as his cock twitched and shot his cum inside her pussy. Jack couldn't tell if Grace had enjoyed it or if she had been in pain. He had checked the sheets when she had fallen asleep on his chest a few minutes later. A couple drops of blood had been the proof that she must've been hurting. The following knottings had been bloodless and less painful. She had looked like she had honestly enjoyed it, even begged for him to fill her with "his thick cock and that enormous knot".

When he got up, he groaned and fished out his boxers from the pile of clothes by the end of the bed. Before he left the room, he mumbled that she needed to take the new Omega birth control in a couple of minutes and that he would go downstairs to make breakfast for them.

Grace nodded silently and pulled the blankets over her naked body. She wasn't sure if she had enjoyed her first Heat with him. She could hardly remember anything in particular and he didn't seem to be too euphoric of it as well. Great, and the same thing would happen in 12 weeks again. With that in mind, she let out a small groan and now had to face the most disgusting part of her cycle. Post Heat.

 


	19. Rain sucks

Jack was downstairs in the kitchen, holding a cooling pack against his groin to tend the pain throbbing through his cock, making breakfast with his other, free hand.

He didn't want to go to work. He was feeling just miserable but he had to.

Grace had collected everything she needed to ''plug'' herself during her period and had ran into the bathroom to take a nice hot shower. Washing his cum and her slick from the inside of her thighs was painful; her skin was tender and sore and even the water running down her legs hurt. She would die if this was how it would be for the rest of her life. How could everyone lust after a Heat with their mates if their insides felt like ground meat when they were done? Or was it different when it was the mate and not ''just'' the husband? Would he be more gentle then?

Grace momentarily wished he had just claimed her while her head had still been somewhere between paradise and the moon. But she would regret it now because they hadn't talked about it and there were still too many things they hadn't figured out completely yet.

Grace felt like crying. She hurt and he hadn't looked like he had enjoyed the last couple of days with his sex-driven wife mewling with desire under him. Grace was sure she wouldn't have to expect too much sympathy for her pain right now. The cramps were getting worse, driving his unused seed and blood out of her.

She didn't look down to the white tiles under her feet, not wanting to see the mess that was left after their mating. A loud knock on the door let her snap out of her thoughts. She couldn't let him see her. She felt disgusting, smelling of blood and distress.

“Just a minute!” Grace screamed through the door.

“Hurry up! I need to go to work!”

“A minute!”

Grace hoped her desperation wasn't too obvious in her voice. She didn't want him to come in, under no circumstances. Fortunately, Jack listened to her and gave her a few more minutes to finish.

As soon as Grace opened the door, he burst into the bathroom, threw his boxers into the next corner and jumped under the shower, not even waiting for Grace to leave the room.

“Breakfast is waiting downstairs,” he said and cleaned her traces from his body. She nodded and left, grateful that he seemed to be too rushed to notice the heavy smells in the air. When he was done with washing and a sloppy shave, he ran out of the house, his tie only draped around his neck, without even saying goodbye to Grace.

She spend the whole day washing the spoiled bedding and finding space in the guest rooms to store it until the next time when they would need it. As soon as the bed was down to two pillows and one big blanket again, it looked almost naked to her. She put another pillow and blanket on her side and felt better by the sight of it.

Grace silently suffered under the cramps that rocked through her body. When Jack came home in the evening he wolfed down dinner and laid down on the couch to catch up some sleep.

“The bed is freshly made. You can also sleep there,” she informed him in a small voice from the kitchen. She tried keeping her distance from him in case he could smell the blood from her period on her. This was so embarrassing.

Jack stood up with a groan again and dragged his tired body upstairs where he collapsed on the bed and fell asleep almost the second his head connected with the pillow. Fine with Grace because that meant he was fast asleep when she crawled into bed on her side. She stayed at the far end of the bed, as far away from him while still laying next to him for at least a tiny bit of comfort for her hurting body.

He didn't seem to notice her efforts to keep her distance or if he did, he didn't care.

* * *

 

Three days later it was raining. Jack hated rain and what? Right! It wasn't just drizzling, it was raining like the world would go down. He had left his umbrella at home when he'd left for work this morning and he had forgotten his spare umbrella at the office.

Great! His coat was soaked through and his suit stuck to his skin. Jack shivered like a leaf when he came home, cursing himself for not using the driving service of the company. He threw the door into the lock when he was finally inside. Within seconds the water dripping from his clothes had formed puddles under his feet before he had even peeled his coat off.

Jack was mumbling curses about why there weren't custome tailored suits out of waterproofed fabric or how an umbrella over the city wouldn't be the worst idea mankind ever had when he kicked off his shoes and ran a hand through his wet hair, brushing it out of his eyes.

God, he hated this day and tomorrow he would have to apologize to Grace because he was extremely sure that he would snap at her a couple of times until this dreadful day was finally over. And she already seemed on edge most of the time when he was coming home. He let out an unnerved groan and walked into the living room, looking around for his wife. Maybe warning her ahead was a good way to make sure she wouldn't strangle him in his sleep tonight.

But she wasn't in the living room, the kitchen, and surely she wouldn't be in the garden ..unless she had lost her mind?

Jack walked to the tall window front and looked outside for Grace's signature white Fedora in this grey, wet hell that presented himself past the protecting glass.

“You're dripping on the floor,” he heard behind him and could already feel a growl rise in his chest. Jack turned around with a sharp retort already on the tip of his tongue but swallowed it down when he saw what Grace was offering him. In one hand she held a fluffy towel and in the other was a steaming hot mug of what smelled like hot chocolate.

“Thanks,” he mumbled and took a careful sip.

“When you're done you can go upstairs. I prepared you a bath.”

Jack stopped just before taking the next sip. A bath? Was he five?

Grace moved to pull his suit jacket off his shoulders when he shrugged her hands off.

“Thanks, I can manage myself.”

She blinked a few times at his sharp tone but said nothing, her face remaining the same cool facade he always saw ..outside the bedroom. He didn't need her to wet-nurse him. She was half as old as he was for God's sake!

It didn't seem to bother her much. Grace walked into the kitchen, humming like she always did and started making dinner. Jack empied the mug in his hand and hurried upstairs to get rid of the wet and cold clothes that clung to his skin.

The bathroom door was ajar, dim light shining into the hallway like a warm invitation. The smell of soapy bubbles filled his lungs, making the temptation even bigger. He groaned when he gave in. His clothes landed on the marble tile floor with a wet clack and he practically jumped into the steamy hot water. His glasses got cloudy immediately so he just took them off and let them fall on the floor. Jack closed his eyes and slid deeper into the water until his lips were already under the water line.

Jack sighed contently when his muscles loosened up in the warmth around him. Now he felt sorry for snapping at her because after his shitty day he had actually needed a bit of comfort. He was just trying to come up to a conclusion how to best apologize to Grace when he heard the familiar clinking of ice cubes in a tumbler.

When he opened his eyes again, Grace sat on the edge of the bathtub and offered him his daily upsucker. She had collected his wet clothes from the floor, undoutably she was going to hang them up to dry as soon as he would take the drink from her. He didn't thank her often enough, he suddenly thought with a slight pang of guilt. He should change that without sounding like a broken record.

“Thank you ..and sorry I snapped at you,” Jack murmured, his lips just above the water line now.

Grace handed him the glass and shrugged almost completely oblivious to his apology. “I guess you had a rough day. We all have that sometimes.”

“Yeah, but that isn't your fault.”

“Everyone needs a punching ball from time to time,” Grace replied quietly and left the bathroom as silently as she had entered it. Jack stayed in the bathtub until the water had cooled down uncomfortably and his glass was dangling empty in his hand. He put on his pj's and walked downstairs just in time to hear the kitchen clock ring.

The whole floor smelled after delicious dinner. Another thing Jack never thanked her for. It wasn't like he was ungrateful or took it for granted. No, he just thought that she knew how thankful he was and how much he appreciated the little routines that had established between them almost by themselves.

Otherwise he wouldn't stop thanking her the entire day and she didn't seem like she was the “emotional” type, very rare among Omegas but not unheard of.

Jack dragged his tired body past the kitchen counter, stealing a chocolate cookie from the serving plate there while Grace just devided the pasta between the two prepared plates in front of her. He waited until one was done and leaned over the counter to take it. She helped him and involuntarily shook her head by the sight of the cookie in his other hand.

“They were meant as desert, not appetizer.”

“One cookie won't kill my hunger,” he waved it off and carried his steaming plate to the coffee table. With a content sigh he slumped down on the couch, switching on the TV.

Grace looked at him with a slight frown and then regarded the neatly set dinner table with an even deeper frown. She walked over to it and sat down with her plate of pasta. It smelled amazing but she couldn't bring herself to even touch the fork. Jack had wolfed down the food like a starving man before he even realized she hadn't joined him.

He looked around and found her sitting all by herself at the table. He hadn't noticed the filled wine glass at his place or the new flower arrangment in the middle of the table. But sitting there alone like a queen was a bit melodramatic, right? Jack brought his plate into the kitchen and sat down on the chair next to hers.

Grace looked like she was just about to throw up, staring down to the really delicious food in front of her. She swallowed thickly and raised her hand to take the fork, avoiding his eyes like the plague.

“Are you okay?” he asked carefully. She nodded quickly but dropped the fork again. “Aren't you hungry?”

Grace shook her head and got up almost too fast. Her chair swayed but didn't fall back. She hurried into the bathroom next to the entry door and threw the door shut behind her. Jack could still hear that she was throwing up and he got worried. From zero to sick in two minutes?

Jack waited a moment before he got up and knocked on the bathroom door,

“I'm fine!” he heard from inside but she sounded miserable so he opened the door nonetheless. She was leaning against the basin, pale and shaking.

“You're not fine.”

“It's probably just a bug,” she whispered, her knuckles turning white as she clutched onto the porcelain basin. Grace shook even more with every second that passed.

“If this is a bug, I'm calling the vernim exerminator,” Jack said concerned and had hoped for a little smile or at least a huff but she just shook her head and took deep breaths through her nose. Her legs started swaying before she collapsed right in front of his eyes. Jack caught her before her head could hit the hard floor. Grace's skin glistened with cold sweat in the bluish bathroom light.

Jack's heart almost leapt out of his chest, breaking his ribs from the hefty beats when felt her forehead. He needed to keep a cool head. No fever, good. Grace opened her eyes only a second later and sucked in a lungful of air when she struggled to get up again.

“Stay down. Just for a second.”

“No, I'm fine,” she claimed but his stern face told her that backtalk was pointless. Jack regarded her with an even more concerned look.

“I'll get you to a hospital,” he decided eventually and helped her up.

“No, I said I'm fine.”

“And you're clearly not. You just collapsed on the bathroom floor.”

He had a point there but Grace still struggled against his grip. “You're only wearing your pyjamas.”

“I'm not trying to impress anyone.”

Jack grabbed his coat, wallet, and searched for her insurance card while Grace was relunctantly putting on her own coat. She had to lean against the wall to stay on her feet. Everything around her was moving as if she was caught in a carousel.

Maybe letting a doctor take a look at her wasn't the worst idea.

* * *

 

Grace was trying to stay calm on the ride to the hospital. Jack would purr if he was really that concerned about her. Why couldn't he purr for her? That would make it so much better.

She was at the brink of throwing up again. Her stomach was completely empty. She would only suffer without the benefit of feeling better afterwards.

“We're almost there,” he tried to calm her ..without much success. All she wanted from him was a soft purr and some tenderness outside the bedroom. It seemed he could only show his loving side when they were about to have sex or just caught their breaths afterwards.

Her hormones send her feelings on a rollercoaster ride and she hated it! There was nothing more unnerving than dancing on the thin line between bursting into tears and screaming that everything sucked! This wasn't how she was! She wasn't one of this little Omegas that would fall into deep depression if she wasn't pampered every second of the day! But she craved his touch while not being able to stand it at the same time.

When they finally arrived at the hospital Grace covered her mouth with both hands, already tasting stomach acid on her tongue. The nurse at the reception desk sent them into the third floor, their Omega floor. Another nurse there told them to wait in one of the patient's rooms, the doctor would come to them as soon as they were able to.

Grace sat on the edge of the hospital and was shivering again. Jack lay his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his chest. His heart was beating fast, his scent changed into the one of distress which only made her stomach more of a problem.

Keep yourself together, she thought over and over again until a woman in a white doctor's coat entered the room. Finally!

“Good evening, my name is Dr Nadia Naasir. What happened, Miss?” asked the indian looking woman, brushing a strand of her wavy bob behind her ear only to have it back in her face a second later. She looked friendly with her light smile and almost black eyes.

“Her name is Grace Hunter. She is my wife,” Jack answered, stroking his hand up and down her back, “she didn't eat but threw up before she collapsed. She lost conscience for a few seconds but came to it again.”

Dr Naasir slightly furrowed her brows and gave him and even friendlier smile.

“When did you last see her eat, Mr Hunter?”

Jack's eyebrows shot up to his hairline and needed a few moments to answer. “Dinner two days ago. I can't tell if she ate since then. I'm not home during lunch and yesterday evening I had an important dinner with business partners.”

She nodded, almost knowingly, and Grace closed her eyes in shame. She knew she hadn't eaten enough but she had felt sick ever since Jack had told her he had to go back to work pretty much right after her Heat had broken. That had been three agonizingly lonely days ago. She had shamelessly stayed in bed until she knew Jack would be home soon to make him dinner. The only time she left bed apart from that was to take a shower when she couldn't take the disgusting stench of her menstrual blood anymore.

Dr Naasir squinted her eyes when she saw Grace's reaction to the question and his answer.

“Mr Hunter, would you mind waiting outside for a moment? I'd like to talk to Grace alone for a moment.”

Yes, he minded. Grace could tell by the way his shoulders tensed up and his jaw started twitching in a fast rhythm.

“It's okay,” she whispered and saw him leave the room with cautious steps.

“I'll be right outside,” Jack said right before closing the door behind him. Grace could practically hear him grinding his teeth because he had been sent outside like a naughty school boy.

When they were alone Dr Naasir sat down in front of her on a simple roll stool and smiled at her friendly. “Are you and your Alpha bonded for long?”

“We aren't bonded, we are married but he hasn't claimed me yet,” Grace answered, wrapping her arms around her middle tightly, “This was our first Heat together.”

“Why didn't he claim you?” Dr Naasir slightly frowned and lay her head a bit.

Grace eyed her suspiciously. She didn't know this woman and her marriage was none of her business. Yet, she was a doctor and she didn't seem like an untrustworthy person.

“We don't know each other very well. I don't mind waiting until I have spend a bit more time with him to see if he really is the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

The doctor only nodded silently and jotted something down on the clipboard in her hands.

“How did you spend your PreHeat, Heat, and PostHeat with him?”

Grace couldn't help but turning a bit red. Was she supposed to tell her all explicit details?

“Ehm ..well, I ..why do you want to know?”

“Because Omegas should be as comforted as possible. Your complete Heat is a very draining time for you, physically and emotionally. Your Alpha has to be there for you during that period of your cycle.”

“He is.”

“No, he would've told you to eat and noticed how unhappy you are if he had been.”

“I'm not unhappy,” Grace hissed and glared at her.

Dr Naasir raised one of her thick eyebrows and pursed her lips. “But if everything was fine, you wouldn't be here, Grace. I'm not saying your Alpha is a bad one, I'm just saying that he could be a bit more attentive. Talk to him and tell him what you need to feel comforted and loved by him.”

“Excuse me but I don't think my marriage and how my Alpha treats me is any of your business,” Grace snapped and wrapped her arms even tighter around her middle. Jack was a good man and a good Alpha. Wanting for anything more than that was presumptuous and against everything Grace had been taught her entire life. Questioning an Alpha's love and devotion was worse than hitting him in the face.

She slid from the hospital bed and wanted to flee into Jack's arms, well, if he wanted to pull her into his arms that was. When she hurried outside the room, Jack was right there to embrace her. Grace buried her face into his chest and could feel his heart beat fast only inches from her cheek.

“What did you do to her?” he asked with a sharp tone and a glare directed at Dr Naasir.

“I told her you need to spend more time with her. What she is experiencing is called OmegaDrop because you didn't comfort her enough. She's suffering from immense stress.”

“Excuse me?” Jack's heart was beating faster still, his breathing got harder, and his nostrils started to flare. “Are you telling me I'm neglecting her?!”

The doctor lifted her hands in a calming motion and shook her head. “No, I'm saying you need to talk more and some things might need to be changed in the future.”

His arms around Grace tightened and she let out a little content sigh. With his warmth and scent calming her down again, she purred silently to make him relax too. She just wanted to go home and cuddle with him on the couch or in bed. Grace knew that it was probably not going to happen but that thought helped her staying up straight when she really wanted to collapse again and drown in her own tears.

“Let's just go home,” she whispered and felt Jack finally calm down a bit. He stroked his hands up and down her back, humming a deep ''yes'' and turning around to leave.

Jack offered her his coat in addition to her own, wanting to keep her warm and wrapped in his scent on their car ride back home. They didn't talk which was fine with Grace. She snuggled into the seat and pulled his coat tighter around herself, almost like he would hug her. It was calming her but Grace still felt like throwing up. The air in the car was simmering with his tension and her uneasyness, a nauseating mixture.

When they reached a red light, Jack sighed and glanced at Grace's pale face. “You're my first Omega, Grace, you know that, right?”

She nodded, not trusting herself to talk.

“Then why do you suspect me to know how to behave during a PostHeat?”

He sounded tired and almost ..helpless? Grace turned her head towards him with wide eyes. “I'm fine.”

“You collapsed on the floor of our bathroom and your doctor just told me that I wouldn't take enough care of you.”

“She's wrong.”

The traffic light jumped to green and they continued their way home in silence until they arrived in their street.

“When did you last eat?”

Grace fiddled with a loose thread on one of his coat's buttons and shrugged.

“I would like an answer to my question, Grace, this isn't a joke.” His voice was stern and making her guts tighten painfully.

“Three days ago,” she murmured, not looking at him when she heard him inhale a deep, almost shocked breath through his nose.

“Then she is right. I didn't pay enough attention. You have to tell me if I don't act the way I should in your current state. And I don't want you to tell me that you're fine when you're clearly not. I don't like lies.”

“Said the liar,” she added in an attempt to make normal, teasing conversation but she failed miserably.

Jack's growl made Grace's skin crawl. She wanted to apologize but before she could as much as open her mouth, Jack had already parked the car in front of their house. He opened the door for her and was never more than a step away from her all the way up into their bedroom. She felt his breath on her neck when he helped her out of his coat and than hers too.

When she looked over her shoulder to him, he was avoiding her eyes. Her throat felt constricted. She had no desire to argue with him. All she wanted were his arms around her, his chest vibrating from his deep, comforting purring, and not feeling this fucking nausea rising in her own chest. But she couldn't ask ..and she wouldn't.

 _Be glad for everything your Alpha chooses to give you and never demand for anything more. A good Omega is never a nuisance! Wanting for more than you get is disrespectful and presumptuous!_ , her mother's words echoed through her hurting head.

Jack said something, but she didn't understand him.

She answered on default, “I'm okay, Jack. You don't have to do this.”

 


	20. Comfort: Doctor's prescription

“I'll bring them downstairs and get you something to eat. You can change into your nightshirt in the meantime,” he mumbled with his eyes on the coats in his hands.

“I'm okay, Jack. You don't have to do this.”

“I don't want to hear you say ''I'm fine/okay'' for the rest of your PostHeat,” he ordered, determined not to let Dr Naasir be right a second longer. From the corner of his eyes he could see Grace's wrinkled nose. She looked sick, like she really needed to stay in bed for a few days. He was reluctant to leave her for only a moment but Jack needed to check something on his phone and she needed to get some food in her stomach.

“I'll be back in a minute or two.”

Downstairs he simply threw their coats on the couch and searched the fridge for something for her to eat. Her pasta on the dinner table caught his eye and he asked himself if she should eat so much after three days without anything. Maybe just a few salty crackers and something with vitamins at first?

When he had prepared a little plate with crackers, slices of honey dew and grapes, and water was boiling up for a cup of tea for Grace, Jack pulled out his phone and googled _PostHeat, comfort unwanted by Omega,_ because nothing else was happening here. She wasn't seeking closeness and rather lied than asking him for a hug.

But google was a bitch and wouldn't come up with a fitting answer. Most articles were about how important comfort was for an Omega, especially during PostHeat. _Unwanted_ was just deleted from his search.

“Fucking useless internet,” he cursed and put his phone away again before continuing to make Grace a cup of her favorite tea. He put an ice cube into the hot water to cool it off enough so that she wouldn't have to wait for too long before she could drink it, before carrying the tray with the plate and the tea upstairs. He pushed the door open with his foot while trying not to spill any of the hot liquid.

Grace sat on her side of the bed still in her clothes and looking outside the tall windows. She swayed lightly and it looked like it was terribly exhausting for her just to keep her eyes open. A pang of guilt almost knocked the air out of his lungs when he thought how he couldn't have seen how bad she had been feeling the past days until it had climaxed in this emergency today.

“No nightshirt on yet?” he asked and set down the tray on the nightstand on his side of the bed. As soon as she heard his voice, Grace sat up straighter, holding her breath like she was afraid to make even the slightest sound in his presence. Was she so afraid of him? Her husband? The man she had spent her Heat with?

“I ..I'm sorry,” she stuttered, despite herself, and got up a bit too fast. She started swaying dangerously and had to sit back down on the edge of the bed with her head spinning like a carousel. She only gave herself a second before she tried again. Jack watched her attentively as she walked to her closet door. Grace was shaky on her knees so he followed her to make sure she didn't blackout again.

“You don't have you babysit me, Jack.”

“Yes, I do.”

Grace sighed and looked over her shoulder at him. She had dark circles under her eyes. They got more prominent in the artificial light of the walk-in closet. It was all his fault!

Jack was sure she would try to make him leave again but she stayed quiet and changed into her long nightshirt, the one with the pug on it that always made him smile, but not today. When Grace was done, she turned around to him, looking like she was in actual, physical pain. There was sweat glistening on her forehead, she was breathing hard, and her skin was even paler than before.

“I brought you a bite to eat and I want you to eat, Grace.”

She nodded and slowly walked towards him but not to lean against him or seek comfort in physical contact like he would've expected ..or wished. No, Grace walked past him and crawled into bed. He grinded his teeth and fought not to feel hurt by her reaction. She was the one suffering under her cycle not him.

He switched off the light in her closet and joined her in the bedroom. She lay on her side, her back turned towards him, hugging her pillow like it was the most important thing in her life. Jack reached for her waist to turn her around. She hadn't touched the tray, not even looked at it but he wouldn't let her be a second longer without her having eaten anything. Grace slapped his hand away and scooped away from him as far as she could without falling out of the bed.

“I want you to eat,” he purred after the initial little flash of anger had died down again. The sound of his comforting rumble relaxed her to the point of eventually turning around and sitting up. She still clasped onto her pillow and pressed herself against the headboard of the bed. It looked like she tried to get away from him while not trying to anger him. He would never let out his anger on her, he had his boxing for that, and especially not today. “Please, Grace.”

This plea seemed to do the trick. Grace looked at him from under her lashes and then glanced to the tray on the nightstand. When Jack heard her stomach rumble, he knew he had won and reached for the plate.

“The tea please,” she requested in a thin voice.

Well, Jack thought, one step at a time then. He handed her the cup and almost stared her into taking the first sip. He just wanted to see her filling her stomach with ..anything, really. The china was warm enough for her to feel comforted but the liquid itself wouldn't burn her, so it was perfect but she still seemed somehow tense.

“What do you want next?”

“I'm fi-” His stern look shut her up immediately. “The honey dew.”

Jack nodded and reached for the plate next. Grace looked at the food like it was going to bite her and not the other way around. Maybe purring could help but he didn't want to turn her on accidently and distract her mind from eating again. Shakingly, she extended her arm to take one of the slices and suddenly yelped when the tea in her other hand lost balance and spilled all over her and her cuddle pillow. She jumped out of bed and let out a frustrated scream.

Jack hurried towards her but she only pushed him away. “Stay away from me!”

Now he was hurt. “What's wrong with you, Grace?!”

“I'm gross,” she cried and wrapped her arms around her middle again before sliding down on the wall to sit on the floor like a helpless child.

Jack was just confused. Gross? She was as beautiful as on the day he had first seen her come into the café. There was nothing gross about her. Carefully, he kneeled down next to her, not touching her but purring softly to sooth her a bit. Grace looked at him with bloodshot eyes and wet cheeks. She hugged her knees to her chest. The stain from her tea was already ice cold and the fabric clung to her skin.

“Talk to me, Grace.” His voice was soft, only barely over a whisper.

“I told you, I'm gross.”

“No, you're not.” Jack sat down opposite from her, still not touching her but close enough to let her feel his body heat on the naked skin on her legs.

“Yes, I'm reeking of blood and I feel dirty as soon as I leave the shower. I showered five times today!” she cried and gave the bathroom door a vicious glare.

His surprised look didn't seem to help. Grace wanted to get up and take the sixth shower today when Jack caught her wrist. “I like it.”

She spun around, now sporting an even more surprised expression than his previous one. “What?”

“I like the copper tinge in your scent since you're in PostHeat,” Jack admitted, sounding almost sheepishly in the way he said it, and pulled her closer to him, “I don't exactly know why but I like it ..a lot.”

It might sounded weird and a bit perverted but he was telling the truth. This hint of blood that surrounded her at the moment was giving him even more reason not to let her out of his sight if not necessary, like protecting a wounded mate in the wild ..or one that was just giving birth to his cubs. Was this the reason she had refused herself the closeness to him? Because she thought he would be grossed out? It was just the opposite.

Grace could only stare at him with a gaping mouth. He could see her hard nipples through the wet fabric of her nightshirt and decided to follow his instincts instead of his head for the rest of the night. He let go of her wrist and closed his fingers around the hem of the long shirt to pull it over her head. He wanted to feel her, skin on skin.

She stopped him when he was halfway up her belly. “I don't think I want -”

“Me neither,” he interrupted her purringly and gave her a tender kiss to make her relax again. He knew it worked when she sighed against his lips and finally leaned into him. Grace was showing her complete content a few seconds later by weaving her fingers through the short hairs at the back of his neck like she always did. Jack pulled her even closer and licked over her bottom lip, deepening the kiss when she opened her mouth to allow his tongue to enter.

He had missed this more than he had ever expected. Maybe just because he had been so overwhelmed by her sex drive during her Heat that it felt like an ice bucket over his crotch when she had suddenly pushed him away. Jack leaned his forehead against hers when they needed to catch their breaths.

“I'm starving,” she whispered and nudged her nose against his cheek. He started chuckling over his triumph. She crawled over her bed and wanted to make herself comfortable on her side of the bed again when she made a little unhappy noise and wrinkled her nose. She had already forgotten about the spilled tea that was making the bed wet and cold. Jack pulled her over to his side and sat down on the edge again, watching her nibble at a slice of the honey dew. Her little content moans were like angels' singing in his ears. When Grace was sated, she felt tired again but her side of the bed was still impossible to sleep on.

Jack undressed until he was like her in only his underwear and retrieved an additional blanket from the closet in the guest room. When he returned to the bed, Grace was just trying to find a spot on her side to lay comfortably on but all her efforts were for nought.

“We can share my side, Grace.” She looked a bit uncertain at him after his offer until he continued, “You don't really think I would force you to anything, right?”

“No, of course not, I just ..I still think I'm disgusting,” Grace whispered, not meeting his eye. Jack groaned and could hardly keep himself from rolling his eyes.

“You're not, Grace. It's biology and I don't mind it. Don't be ridiculous.” His stern voice and steady gaze left no room for interpretation. She eventually gave in and moved closer to him. Jack could feel her shaky breath on his naked chest when she was close enough. As soon as he could, he pulled her into his arms and let her snuggle into his chest with a little content sigh. His body heat and scent letting her drift into a light slumber not even a minute later.

* * *

 

Grace woke an hour later when her stomach growled like a beast. Jack reheated her pasta from dinner and brought it upstairs into the bedroom so that she wouldn't need to leave the warm bed again.

“I won't go to work tomorrow ..or rather for the rest of your PostHeat.”

“Knowing that I don't scare you away by smelling like a rotting deer is already making things better. You really don't need to be there 24/7,” Grace replied, although he had some difficulties understanding her with her mouth as full as it was now.

“Well, I will be out of the house here and there but at least I won't be gone the entire day was what I wanted to tell you with that.”

“Oh.” She eyed him closely and emptied her plate before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and continuing, “And what are we going to do?”

“I'm sure we can think of something,” he chuckled and let his hand wander down her side until he reached her panties only to have it slapped away by her.

“I don't want to have sex during my PostHeat.” That was clear, he thought and nodded.

Grace looked down to the plate on her lap and took a deep breath. “But my biology yells at me for refusing you and that's what's making me feel sick from the stomach.”

Jack nodded again and took the plate from her. “I have nothing from pushing you into doing something you don't want to do. This is my first Heat so I need you to give me guidelines I can apply for the ones to come in the future.”

Grace huffed and slid deeper into the pillows that surrounded her like a plush frame. “I don't even know what I want from you or how to spend a Heat with an Alpha.”

“Well, obviously I don't have anything against a little blood in the bedroom ...wait, that sounded creepier than I intended.”

Grace snickered and he so easily took a heavy weight from his shoulders. With her being almost back to normal, he could lose the last panic that was making his muscles tense up and set him in alert-mode the whole time.

“And I guess I should've just listened to my instincts concerning hovering over you like an overprotective mom.”

“So, you wanted to be with me?” she asked with pursed lips.

“Course,” he snorted as if it was the most natural thing there was. Grace let out a small sigh and pulled the three blankets she was still hording in their bed up to her chin. Jack scanned her thoughtful face. “What's going on behind those eyes?”

She automatically looked over to him and pulled the blankets over her head. Jack could feel her move under it until she had managed to shuffle over to him and press her entire body against his side. It was warm, dark, and simply perfect for her under her little blanket roof with him as her radiator and pillow all in one.

Jack lifted one corner of the blankets to look down at her. She glanced at him with a light smile tugging on the right corner of her lips. “Is there enough space for me under there, too?”

Grace took the blankets from his hand and pulled them over his head as well. He scooped down on the mattress a bit and tangled his legs with hers so that they didn't stick out at the foot of the bed. Grace loved it. She was feeling so safe and sound like this. The only problem was the missing oxygen so they couldn't stay like this for too long but for the moment the only thing missing was ..his purr.

Right when she had ended the thought his chest started vibrating in the familiar, comforting way that always made her forget all her troubles for a second or two. His purr was low and more meant for the vibration than the sound.

Grace could feel the famous three little word on the tip of her tongue but she swallowed them down again. Not yet, not when her head was spinning when he was close and also when he wasn't anymore. It just wasn't the time yet.

 


	21. Prize

Two days later Jack and Grace were sitting on the couch, watching a movie about ..she couldn't really tell, she was distracted by her biology again. Her PostHeat had reached it's peak with cramps and heavy days that made her feel like she was bleeding out like a dying pig.

Jack was perfect, he held her whenever he could, purred for her when she needed it, and didn't leave her alone for more than two hours max. Of course his father hadn't been happy about his decision to stay home with her. But Grace couldn't shake the feeling that she bound him to the house like she was bedridden.

But today she really needed him ..and she needed him to see how she suffered but the tv screen seemed to be much more interesting than her. She wasn't a whiny person and so she didn't tell him that she wanted him to purr her to sleep, laying on his chest like a small child, wearing his worn clothes so that no matter what she would only smell his scent.

A heavy cramp hit her seemingly out of nowhere and made her moan involuntarily, only lightly but loud enough for him to turn his head. Jack frowned and snaked his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer. Grace leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed contently when the pain had died down again.

A few minutes later a new, even worse pain shot through her body and made her moan again.

“What's wrong, Grace?” he asked, concern written over his face like it was a billboard.

She waved her hand in a dismissive motion. “The usual lady problems.”

“C'mon, your problems are my problems. How can I help you?”

Grace chewed her lower lip. She had never actually asked him to purr for her. He had always found the right moment to comfort her. Why couldn't he just do it now?

“Purr?” she whispered, avoiding his eyes cautiously, and reaching for his warm hand to lay it over her lower belly like a hot water bottle with a pulse. His breath hitched when his mind finally understood what she had whispered a second ago. He turned a bit around to her, pulling her against his chest and burying his face in her hair. His mouth was right next to her ear, creating goosebumps on her arms from the closeness to him and the feeling of his thumb stroking over her belly in a calm rhythm.

Grace closed her eyes and sighed smiling. He was instantly making her feel better without looking like he didn't care much that she'd asked him for the comfort, and she loved it. She hoped that her PostHeat would be over soon so she could finally stop stuffing herself with tampons and her panties with pads because she was too paranoid to trust one of them alone. But she was also so terribly worried to lose the comfort she received from him at the moment.

* * *

 

Another two days later, Jack and his brother were in their usual corner of the boxing studio. Jack needed this here as a let out for his cramped up energy that pumped through his veins. He couldn't blow off steam in the bedroom with Grace and it didn't look like her PostHeat would be over soon. Fuck!

“And how's life with your wife?” Rick asked, holding up the pads for the sparring and sincerely hoping his brother didn't have a bad day. He more than once had caught himself a hit from Jack because he had forgotten that it was only training and nothing more.

“Good,” Jack answered, completely focussed on the red leather pads in front of his face. Sweat dripped from his brows and radiating heat. Thanks to Grace's PostHeat he hadn't had many other opportunities to burn off energy than boxing. He didn't blame her, he just wondered when it would be over again.

“And any plans to when you will claim her? Dad is already showing his ''I'm not amused''-face 24/7. He made his secretary cry today because he was so angry.”

“Sorry to hear that. I like Marlene. But I wanna know her before chaining myself to her.”

“Haven't you had enough time during her Heat?” Rick asked with a snort. An especially well placed hit knocked him out of balance a second later, bringing his snort to a sudden end.

“None of your concern,” Jack growled and rolled his shoulders until Rick was back in position to continue their training.

The room was swimming in Alpha scents. It was perfect for competition among the men, spurting each and every one of them on to give their best ..and even beyond. Not seldom one of the boxers wouldn't listen to the ringside doctor when he said he'd had enough. Ambulances came at least three times a week to take care of ambitious and most of the time aggressive sports men.

“And no claiming also means no babies yet?”

Jack punched him out of balance again and walked a few steps because he would've punched Rick a second time just to make him shut up. “No, stop asking about my marriage. I'm not snooping around in yours either.”

“Not much to snoop around between Nina and me.”

“Much more than meets the eye, little brother. You know there are a few hundred gossip magazines who would kill to shine a light on our little family secret.”

Rick's smile disappeared and was replaced with a panicked stare. “You're not gonna-”

Jack lay his head to the side with a ''you're not seriously asking me that''-look on his sweaty face.

“Did you tell her?”

“No, and I'm not here to talk, Ricky. Get the pads up or the gloves on,” Jack replied and bounced his fists together. Technically he had sworn a holy oath to their mother that he would never fight against his brother when he had brought him here with him the first time when they had still been teens but it hadn't even lasted a week before Rick had come home with a broken nose. That had been the first time their mother had shouted at them and their father had been the one bringing him dinner upstairs when he had been grounded for the following six months.

In the end it had been only two but, wow, he'd had a fucking heart attack the next time Rick had injured himself during boxing even though it hadn't been his fault this time. Then his father had shouted at him for not taking enough care of his little brother. By now Rick was good enough to survive a round or two against his older brother without taking severe injuries from it.

“Nope, sorry. I had to promise Nina not to fight an Alpha who ha-”

“Who what?”

“Who hasn't had enough sex in the last couple of days.”

“Clever girl you've got there.”

“Yeah, that's my wife,” Rick said, sounding a bit proud and lifting up the pads again.

“And when are you going to claim her?” Jack copied him and started with his jabs again.

“Ha ha.”

“What? Am I not getting to ask stupid questions?” Jack retorted and started landing punches again.

“Hey, at least there's a realistic chance that _you_ will claim your wife. I could never do that to both of us.”

“Don't you mean all _four_ of you? No, five, you still have the stupid idea with the baby.”

Rick looked at the other Alphas around them. None of them seemed to pay them any attention but talking so suggestively about his fake marriage and the fact that his wife was in love with a Betamale and him being in a gay relationship with another Alpha who was also doomed to spend his life in the closet was a bit too risky for his taste.

“Not here, Jack.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he murmured and they continued their sparring in silence ..until suddenly a new scent cut through the air and knocked Jack off balance. He stumbled against an Alpha next to him who was too absorbed with staring at the source of the new scent to even notice him.

“What's she doing here?” Rick whispered, seeing Grace by the double door on the other side of the room, “Is she mad coming in here unclaimed?”

Jack didn't hear the last part. He was already running through the crowd towards her. None of these Alphas was in their right mind. They were in primal fighting mode and fighting for the right to mate an unclaimed Omega was the oldest reason for competition ...and murder. He needed to get her out of here!

“Are you crazy?” he hissed and grabbed her hard by the arm. He pulled her into a spare room he could lock from the inside. It used to be a private locker room a while ago.

“Your mother called. She said it was urgent and I couldn't reach you on the phone. I called your assistant and she told me where to find you.”

“Why the fuck did you think that coming here was a good idea?!”

Grace stared at him pacing the floor in front of her. Her eyes were shooting daggers. “If you'd answered your fucking phone I wouldn't have had to!”

“You can't just come in here like that, Grace!”

She crossed her arms over her chest and jutted her jawline forward. “What because I'm an Omega? Because I'm a woman?”

“No,” Jack shouted and stopped pacing, “because each and every man out there would kill their best friend at the moment just to fuck you! They are in primal mode and you waltz in here like you're asking for it.”

Grace's eyebrows shot up to her hairline and blinked completely flustered. At least that's what Jack thought she was doing until she started swaying and her chest started heaving like she couldn't breathe properly anymore. His anger and panic that flooded his veins were replaced with worry and concern. This reminded him too much of her collapsing and ending up in hospital a few days ago. Just as he was about to ask her if she was alright, her lips came crushing down on his. She linked her arms around his neck and jumped upwards to wrap her legs around his waist. Her skirt automatically hitched up around her hips.

Jack's hands wandered on their own down to her ass, groping it like he was a teenager, making out with his first girlfriend behind the school stadium. He moaned against her lips when his fingers found the wet patch between her thighs.

All those Alpha scents must've turned her one immediately.

“I fucking love the scent of your sweat,” she said in a husky voice when she broke the kiss to cover his neck in tiny teeth marks. Not real bite marks but more than hickeys too. The feeling of her teeth gracing his skin was incredible, primal.

Jack turned them so that Grace was pressed between his chest and the wall, and linked her ankles behind his back tightly. He was sure she would stop him as soon as he tried to fuck her but she never told him to stop. If anything she prompted him to go ahead already with her fingernails scratching over his hot skin.

He was hard in his shorts, taking deep breaths of her scent. No trace of blood anymore.

PostHeat was over, it finally dawned to him and he lost all reservations. Brushing her panties aside, Jack thrust into her, muffling her lust filled screams with his lips. He was sure the men outside knew what they were doing in here anyways so really no use in keeping her as silent as possible but still.

She was tighter than during her Heat, obviously, but her slick was helping him along, spreading over his cock with every thrust.

“Harder,” she breathed and dug her nails into his shoulders. Jack laughed and oblidged her order only too willingly. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and sucked on her scent gland. It was driving Grace crazy. She bucked her hips against him, pulling him closer with her thighs, and leaning her head back with a loud shout.

Music in his ears, only spurring him on to slam into her even harder. His knot was swelling up slowly but steadily. He couldn't knot her in here, Jack thought at the back of his head but her hushed cursing when she neared her climax was stronger than reason. Her mouth fell open, her brows knit together, her legs tightened around his middle, pulling him all the way in when her inner walls spasmed around his hard cock.

Jack let out feral groan when he pushed his thick knot inside her and shot spurt after spurt of hot, white cum inside her. He needed a second before he could think again. Grace had her arms wrapped around his neck and her head tucked under his jaw. Her heavy breath caressed his naked chest in a fast rhythm. Jack looked around in the empty room. No chair, no table, nothing but the floor. He couldn't let her down while being knotted with her shorter legs.

He tried loosening her legs around him just so he could pull his sports shorts up over his bare ass, but she only tightened her thighs around him with an unhappy groan. Jack chuckled deeply and kissed her under her left ear before trying to pull the shorts up despite her legs. He carefully sat down on the floor with Grace on his lap. She snuggled into his chest, sighing contently.

It took her a few minutes until she was able to form a coherent sentence again.

“Your mother wouldn't wanna tell me but she said it was urgent,” she murmured tiredly.

“Nothing is ever as urgent as my mother makes it sound. She will expect us to show up for dinner and then she will tell me what has happened again.”

“She sounded really distressed on the phone.” Grace sat up straighter to be able to look into his face. The only light in the room came from a small window right under the ceiling. It was letting in enough light so that they could barely make out the features of their spouse. And what they couldn't actually see, their brains filled in, knowing every little beauty mark or thin scar on each other's faces.

“As I said, it always sound like the end of the world when she wants something.”

Grace nodded and chewed her inner cheek.

“So, I guess Heat is over for the next few months.”

“It is,” she answered and resumed her chewing again, “sorry for coming here today. I guess, I didn't think this through.”


	22. Breaking News

Jack and Grace still sat on the floor of the small room, listening to each other's breathing and waiting for his knot to swell down again when a knock disturbed the silence.

Grace immediately tensed up and looked at him with bright red cheeks.

“It's me,” they heard Rick's voice through the door, “I got your bag. Can I come in?”

Her eyes grew giant when Jack reached up for the door knob and let his brother in ..while they were still knotted! Grace hid her face in shame in Jack's shoulder. She knew that he and his brother were close but, seriously?!

Rick was just as ashamed of walking in on them as she was, looking aside and simply dumping Jack's sports bag next to the door before he said a bit awkwardly that he also had received a message from their mother on his voicemail.

“Thanks. See you,” Jack answered and heard Grace quiet _ohmygodohmygodohmygod'_ s by his shoulder.

With a few mumbled apologies Rick left them again and slammed the door shut behind him. As soon as they were alone again, Grace sat up straight and punched Jack's chest as hard as she could.

“How could you let him come in? You just shouted at me for coming here at all but you don't mind your little brother coming in while we're still stuck together?” she hissed with a vicious glare.

“My brother is no threat for you, trust me. If any Alpha is to be trusted around you, it's him.”

“Why? Because he's younger than you? Because family above all? Because of what, Jack? He's an Alpha just like all the others out there!”

Jack shut her up with a kiss and then whispered against her lips, “No, he's not. If you swear me a holy oath that involves the immortal souls of your parents and our future children, I can tell you why.”

Grace furrowed her brows. What was that harshness in his voice? He looked at her like he was going to tell her the best kept secret of the world ...about Rick? She gasped internally, maybe they were both super evil geniuses and used their father's company and technology to build androids for world domination after all. Her brain was coming up with the most stupid stuff when in post-coital bliss.

“I swear,” she replied after thinking hard. She wasn't exactly known for her chattiness and the only person she really let her guard down around was Juliana, so what was he fearing?

Jack narrowed his eyes, contemplating her trustworthyness. If anyone, if their father, found out about Rick, they would be so screwed.

“You won't tell anyone, no friend, not your family and especially not mine, are we clear?”

“Yes, Jack! God, you're making it sound like the end of the world.”

“It would be for Rick, if anyone found out,” he whispered sternly.

That was giving Grace the creeps. “I swear, I'll keep it a secret.”

“Good,” Jack took a deep breath and leaned forward to whisper into Grace's ear, “Rick is gay.”

Her head shot around to him with wide eyes. “But he's married.”

“Yes, for the facade.”

“Does ..does she know?” Grace asked shocked, imagining how hurt she would be if she found out that Jack had kept something as important as that from her the entire time. She would be shattered.

“Of course, Nina does. She knew it even before the Uncollaring.”

“But they said they wanted a baby. H-how are they going to do it if he's gay?”

“Remember that that was the first thing I asked when they told us about their plans? They explained the details to me but I'll spare you the details. Let's just say that it will be a big project for everyone involved.”

She needed to let the information make it's way a couple of times through her brain before she opened her mouth again. “Why is it a secret? We have the gay marriage and it's not uncommon to see gay Alphas on the street with their Beta males.”

“Yes, only that none of the openly gay Alphas are part of a family that is so stuck up in it's tradition as ours and my father was against the gay marriage when it was discussed. You should hear him when the topic comes up. Also, Rick isn't into Betas, he likes other Alphas.”

“Maybe he would think differently if he knew about Rick? After all, he's his son.”

Oh, how sweet she is, his internal voice cooed when he shook his head.

“I don't think so and neither Rick nor Edward would want to risk it.”

“His boyfriend?”

“Long-term partner. They have been dating since they were both undergrads at uni. He's working in the legal department of our company. Rick had helped him get the job ten years ago.”

The knot slowly swelled down inside her as they kept talking.

“And why did Rick even marry? I mean, you weren't in his age and he's ''only'' the second son, so?”

“Edward is Nina's brother and she was facing a lifetime with an old asshole of an Alpha, trust me I know who the candidate had been, and he knew that Rick would never be able to be with him openly, so he came up with the idea that Rick could marry Nina, they play the perfect couple for the cameras and the family but as soon as they are at home they end their act. Nina had a few affairs with Betas. Edward threatened them with total distruction in the courtroom if they ever talked about their adventures with an Omega and for about three years now Nina is madly in love with a Beta named Philip.”

“Wow,” Grace breathed. Had she married into a 80's soap opera? Alphas who love other Alphas, Omegas who love Betas. She had been brought up way too sheltered to just comprehend the fact that a Beta and an Omega actually had a relationship.

“Nobody can ever know about that, not even Emily,” Jack made clear again.

She looked at him in confusion. “She doesn't know?”

“No, Emily has always been a Daddy's girl and she's ...not the nicest person on this planet.” Yes, she had already gotten a taste of that and snorted in agreement which he didn't take well. “But she's still my little sister so keep that snort to yourself.”

Grace nodded and chewed the inside of her cheek when he continued.

“She would tell Dad within the blink of an eye. He would kick Edward out of the company, Rick probably too and would leave them without a penny in their pockets. Philip would end in jail or worse. A lot of lives hang on this secret and that's why I am the only one who knows.”

“Won't it come to a giant fight with your father when it comes out you knew but didn't tell him?”

Jack cradled her face with his big hands and directed her to look him deeply into the green eyes. “My father will never find out, understood, Grace?”

She nooded as much as his hands allowed her to.

“Good,” he whispered and kissed her before slowly pushing her off his lap, now that the knot had completely swelled down again. He changed into his normal clothes from the sports bag while Grace still needed to organize her thoughts. It must be a terrible life not to be able with the one person you love because otherwise your whole life would fall apart. A terrifying thought crawled up her back and she looked up at Jack.

“Do you love somebody else and only married me to keep up the facade?”

He stopped buttoning his shirt and met her eyes with a slight frown. “What do you think?”

“I don't know how well of an actor you are. I would've never thought Rick was not in love with Nina from how they acted around each other.”

“I have always been with women, I love women and I married one because I love them.”

That was almost an _I love you_ but Grace knew better than to let her heart flutter. She pulled her panties back in place when his seed started seeping out and stood up. The hot liquid immediately pooled between her legs in the soft fabric that kept it from dripping to the floor before they left.

* * *

 

That evening Grace and Jack sat at the dinner table in her parents-in-law's penthouse. She had showered quickly after coming home but Jack hadn't been able to keep his hands to himself and now she sincerely hoped that the others couldn't smell his semen in/on her.

“It's nothing to be ashamed of,” Jack had snickered on their way here, “You are my wife. It's only natural that we have sex with each other.”

Well, that was true but she still felt uncomfortable. Especially because Jack wasn't sitting next to her but across from him. Nina glanced at her with a lop-sided grin and a knowing look. Grace tried not to stare at her and Rick. She would've never guessed that their marriage was fake and nothing but a facade. They had seemed to fit so well together.

“Can you please tell your wife not to stare at me like I had something hanging from my nose?” Rick whispered and send a short glare in Grace's direction. She almost choked on her glass of water when Jack did the same making them almost look like angry twins. It was strange how a facial expression could make people look so much alike each other. Nina noticed their glares and nudged Grace in the side with her elbow.

“He told you?” she whispered behind her glass. Grace nodded lightly. “Please try not to blow up everything we so carefully built over the last five years.”

Grace shook her head and gave her an honest smile. Good, with that set and done, they could finally come to the cause of this dinner, Jack thought and turned towards his mother at the other end of the long table. “Now, Mum, what was the reason for your urgent call?”

He consciously avoided looking at Nicolas who sat at the far end of the table. It was obvious that the family tried to seperated them from each other. The same happened with Emily and her much to Grace's content. Rick and Nina were vital in their current position!

“Your wife's family is,” his father answered.

Grace lifted her head with a shocked look. What had happened?

“What are you talking about?” Jack asked with furrowed brows. Grace looked completely clueless at to what was going on.

“Do you know that your father-in-law is planning on selling his company? With everyone and everything.”

“No, I don't know that.”

Jack shot Grace a questioning look which she answered with a slight shake of her head. So she didn't know anything either. Well, no wonder. As far as he knew they had hardly talked with each other since she lived with him. Which was tragic in and on itself but that it was laid out in front of his whole family wasn't the nicest way to behave by his father ...again.

“We think about buying Chasseur Metals and incorporating it into our company, “ Jonathan stated and sipped his glass of wine, “And I want you to lead it.”

Jack's mouth fell open. He had no idea how to solely lead a whole company and as far as he knew the Chasseurs made their money with mining and metal refinery. He build prosthesis and little home-robots, he had no idea what he was supposed to do with a mine!

“I don't think tha-”

“Either you do it or we won't buy it. Then it will leave the family's hands for good.”

Grace looked down at her hands on her lap. They were talking about her father's lifework, his third child he had loved so much. They made it sound like it was a dirty piece of cloth nobody wanted. She bit her teeth together and kept her breathing steady. Nina snaked her hand over to her and squeezed hers shortly before pulling it away again.

Grace was thankful for the little gesture but it should've been Jack's hand not hers. But he was too absorbed with getting pale and eventually asking his father for a bit of time to tend to her current world shattering internal breakdown. Because if her father sold his company that would mean that he could no longer work and that meant terrible news.

“You've got until your mother's birthday party this Sunday,” Jonathan decided but Grace didn't even hear his voice anymore. Jack nodded but already knew he wouldn't do it, couldn't do it.

 


	23. Hunters and Prey

The days until Sunday were short and long at the same time. Grace ached to know if he would take over her father's lifework. She had chewed her lower lips almost daily, waiting for him to come home, scanning for little hints he might leave for her on that topic but nothing. Grace wanted to call her father and ask him if he was okay but she already knew the answer and knowing it and getting her worst fears confirmed were two different things.

Grace wouldn't be able to take it so she hung up every time she heard the dial tone on the other end of the line. Jack didn't ask why she was so remarkably silent over the dinner table or why she seemed so distant when they were in bed together. He already knew the answer and he just couldn't bring himself to tell her that he would not take over her father's family company.

On Sunday she wore a new dress in a cream colored silk and a pencil-skirt-style with half sleeves. Jack had bought it for her only a few days ago for his mother's birthday and as a try to coax a smile out of her. He knew it was one of her fake ones but it still looked beautiful. It was enough for him for the time being.

“Happy birthday, Mom,” Jack said when they arrived at the country house of his parents Sunday afternoon, smiling widely and leaning down to kiss his mother's cheek. She thanked him and Grace knew now was her turn to say something and better not trip before handing Diana the tarte she was carrying as a little present.

“Happy birthday, Mrs Hunter. I -”

“Have you finally decided?” Jonathan interrupted Grace rudely with a hiss and glared at his son. Jack clenched his teeth and excused himself to walk a few feet away from Grace and his mother.

“-made this for you,” she finished her sentence and looked to the floor for a second before lifting her eyes to her mother-in-law. She looked expectingly like she waited for more information on the tarte in her hands.

“It's a peach-tarte with fruits from our own garden.”

“Richard already told me about your little garden Eden,” Diana said with a genuine smile and continued, “Maybe you'd like to show me around a bit in Spring?”

A woman in Diana's age came over to her and pulled her away from Grace before she could even say that she would love to.

And she was alone in the grand house and without anywhere to go or anyone to talk to as long as Jack was still trying _not_ to argue with his father over her father's company. Grace just decided to go and search for Nina and Rick when suddenly a little, brunette girl stood before her and eyed her up and down. Grace remembered having seen her at her wedding together with Emily, so she gathered that this must've been her younger niece, Lilian.

“Hi,” Grace said with a friendly smile but the girl only pursed her tiny pink lips and eventually broke her silence, “You don't look like a dog.”

With lifted eyebrows Grace asked, “Why should I look like one?”

“Because my mommy said that you are a bitch and when I asked what that it, my daddy told me that it's the name for a female dog.”

“And he's right.” Grace tried not to let her know that she was hurt that her sister-in-law seemed to hate her without any reason to.

“Then why did my mommy call you that?”

“Maybe she thinks I look like a cute dog like Lady from _Lady and the Tramp_?” Grace replied and made a thoughtful face, “Who knows?”

Lily shrugged her little shoulders and hopped away in her poofy white dress. Interesting, Emily talked behind her back and called her a bitch, that bitch. So, they would obviously never become friends in this life and Grace wasn't really sure why. But she wouldn't fight for a friendship that had no future. Her life was already challenging enough.

It didn't take long before Grace couldn't take the glances her way anymore. She had sticked to Nina she had found only a few minutes after arriving here. Rick was with her and they played her little husband-and-wife-act to perfection again. Well, they had had five years of practice, Grace thought and sipped her plain water.

Suddenly Grace seemed to hear ''bitch'' all around her, in whispers or coughs and her headaches started to pound behind her eyes. She excused herself with a strained smile and left the house through one of the high glass doors, leading out to the dark and, thank God, empty terrace.

She sat on a stone bench outside and felt not only her headached thudding between her temples but also tears burning behind her eyes. She couldn't cry here, not at the birthday party of her mother-in-law. Jack was somewhere in the depths of this house, probably still arguing with his father, Nina couldn't play shoulder-to-lean-on the whole day and it wasn't her duty anyways. Grace was thankful that she was there and kept an eye on her when Jack was looking the other way once again but other than that? She wasn't a friend and not real family.

Grace took deep breaths to calm herself again. There was no way she would give anyone the satisfaction of seeing her hurt and feel her sadness inside there. They were a bunch of hyenas waiting for their kill and Grace wouldn't play prey for them.

Just as she was about to get up and walk back to Nina and the others, Grace heard steps coming closer. Her breath caught in her throat when Nicolas appeared in front of her, his eyes dark and his jaw muscles twitching.

“I've waited a long time to get you alone again. I must say, Jack isn't very good in keeping an eye on you. He rather lets someone else do it. Pathetic, pounding on his Alphaness and still not willing to stand up against his father.”

He clicked his tongue and swayed closer slowly.

“I don't think I want to speak with you,” Grace said, hoping her voice sounded steady and he didn't catch on her shaking hands while he kept closing the distance between them.

“I don't want to speak with you either, sweetheart. I have other plans with you.”

The blood in her veins turned to ice when he leapt forward and pushed her hard against the stone wall behind her. She was too startled to scream but still tried to run away. Nicolas caught her by the upper arm and pushed her against the wall again, caging her with his body.

“I endured broken bones for just talking to you. I think I deserve a little compensation for my injuries and you will give it to me,” Nicolas said calmly, sickeningly close to her ear. The next sound she heard was a zipper. She struggled harder against him, pushed against his chest and let out a desperate scream when he wouldn't move, only laugh at her futile efforts.

“How sweet you are,” he whispered and curled his hand tighter around her upper arm to keep her from moving when he pressed his body flush against hers. Grace was almost having a heart attack. He smelled wrong and making her sick. She couldn't believe that now, now that she needed him, Jack wasn't there.

“Cute that he thinks that scenting you before coming here would change anything.” Nicolas' voice dripped like venom into her ear. “I will make you carry my scent for weeks.”

“Grace!” Nina's voice suddenly cut through the air and Grace send a prayer up to the heavens when Nicolas instantly backed away from her. Nina walked around the corner and stopped when she saw him zip his pants back up. Grace hurried towards her and only shook her head as a sign not to ask any questions.

Grace was so greatful that she had interrupted them that she hugged Nina as soon as they were inside the house and relatively safe again.

“What the heck?” Nina gasped and hugged her slightly back.

“Thank you,” Grace whispered and let go again. She could feel the bruises Nicolas hand had left in her upper arm pound under the fabric of her sleeve, “Can you please tell Jack that I'm not feeling well and that I'm waiting in the car?”

“Are you sure you want to be alone somewhere with Nicolas still on the loose?”

“I don't wanna talk about it,” Grace replied and headed towards the wardrobe to search for Jack's car keys. She would be safe in there. It smelled of her husband and if needed she could lock the door from the inside or even drive home on her own. Her father had taught her how to drive as soon as she had come home from Woodlark.

Ten minutes later, Jack knocked on her window and arched his eyebrow when she first needed to open the locks before letting him in. “Why the hell are you outside sitting alone in our car?”

“Too many people,” Grace lied and smiled weakly. She remembered that this had been her reason for sitting outside in the garden on his birthday. Jack scanned her slumped shoulders and slightly pale skin. She looked sick.

“Are you okay?” he asked and slid into the driver's seat but not closing the door behind him.

“Yeah, just tired.” She finally wanted to know if he would take over her father's company but also if Nicolas or Nina had told him of what had happened on the terrace. He didn't seem angry or too concerned about her. His knuckles weren't bruised so she gathered that he had no idea that his brother-in-law had just tried raping her.

Suddenly her heart stopped for a second. Nicolas had almost raped her. If Jack already broke his skull for only talking to her, what would he do if he found out? Grace obviously didn't feel any sympathy for Nicolas or Emily but what if Jack killed him in a terrible fit of rage and left his nieces fatherless. No, she would never tell him what had happened.

The thought of fatherlessness let the lump return to her throat. Grace felt her lower lip quiver and she cast her eyes down to her kneading hands on her lap. Jack watched her closely, heard the slight change in her breathing and concluded that he should better bring her home. She had no fun at these family celebrations and ...he neither but he had to come and play his role.

Jack texted Rick that Grace wasn't feeling well and that he should excuse him at his parents. He took the easy way out although it was a bit shitty to use her as an excuse to sneek out.

When they were home after fourty minutes of stoic silence in the car, Grace walked upstairs and into her walk-in closet without wasting a single second. When Jack turned around he only caught a glimpse of her ankle disappearing at the upper end of the stairs. He frowned slightly but needed an upsucker before asking her if she was okay. Grace was a quiet person all the time but sneeking away from him was new and ...concerning, especially after what had happened during her PostHeat.

Grace hid herself in her walk-in closet, changing into a long-sleeved pyjama and sat down in front of her vanity. She pulled the hair pins and needles out of her updo and watched her hair fall down in long strands around her face. She was finally alone and could let her tears fall freely. She wanted to call Juliana and cry into her phone that she wanted to go home again ...but she was home.

Another fit of tears streamed down her cheeks at that realization. Why couldn't she feel home in her own four walls? Because her ''family'' either ignored her completely, molested and nearly raped her or insulted her in front of their own children.

And she would have to endure it for at least 50 more years. A horrifying vision of her future.

 


	24. Shards

****An hour later Grace couldn't justify to herself staying in her closet any longer. Jack was probably wondering where she was, perhabs even worrying?

But when she opened the door to their bedroom and saw his tall Alpha figure sleeping soundly it was like a slap in the face. Jack had simply gone to bed without even looking for her. She couldn't believe he had simply gone to bed! Maybe Grace should just accept that he wasn't as caring as she might needed him to be. Or was she too needy? Maybe?

Another crying fit approched her out of nowhere and choked her half to death. She didn't want to wake her husband, not that he would've cared, and rescued herself downstairs into the living room. Her whole body ached. Her lungs were clenching tightly, her eyes burning, her throat sore from the lump that was making breathing almost impossible.

Grace broke down on the couch and muffled her screams and sobs with the couch cushions that smelled of Jack. At least a bit of comfort he was unknowingly granting her. Her mother's words of advice echoed through her brain, all at once. None of them helped her now.

“An Omega is seen, not heard. A good wife is always presentable and present. Be glad for everything your Alpha chooses to give you and never demand for anything more. A good Omega is never a nuisance! Wanting for more than you get is disrespectful and presumptuous!”

Grace bit into the pillow to keep the noises down. She wanted to forget and stop hurting ...stop feeling anything, to be honest. And Grace knew how she would achieve that. Jack stored an obscene amout of booze only a few feet away from her in the cabinet by the armchair. She rumaged through the bottles until she found one with an incredible high alcohol concentration. Vodka!

She struggled getting the lid off but planted the bottles head to her lips the second she managed freeing the clear liquid. It tasted sharp on her tongue and burned her throat on it's way down into her stomach.

Omegas could get drunk by eating rum truffles or something as civil as wine. What Grace did here was life-endangering. But she couldn't take the throbbing in her chest anymore. Her father was dead or at least on the best way there. She would lose her family, her safety and home and she was alone.

* * *

 

Jack startled awake an hour later, alarmed by the sound of doors slamming and Grace's absence next to him. He ran his hand over her side of the bed and frowned when it was completely cold. Had she even come to bed at all?

Another loud sound coming from down the hallway pulled him out of bed. He padded with naked feet through the darkness, down the hall and saw a thin strip of light coming from the inside of Grace's private room.

He knocked on the closed door, concerned and tired. “Grace?”

No answer, only another loud noise that sounded like glass shattering. He called her name louder and when she still wouldn't enter, simple barged into the room. What he saw made him speechless.

Grace was swaying heavily, her hair was a mess, her night dress wet and smelling of alcohol.

“What the hell?” he gasped and made her turn around.

“Oh, you're awake,” Grace slurred with a sneer, “Finally, you remembered that I exist.”

“Why the fuck are you drunk? Are you crazy? How much did you drink?”

Jack walked over to her but stopped when she lifted her hands and suddenly saw her lower lip quiver. She slumped down on the padded windowsill and took a deep breath. “Tell me. You've been keeping me in the dark for too long now.”

Jack pursed his lips and looked down to his naked feet before finally saying what she wanted to know, “I won't be taking over your father's company.”

Grace's world finally fell completely apart. She had known it for days now but hearing it from him was shattering her last hope. “If it was the company of one of your cousins you would do it.”

“No.”

“Liar,” Grace hissed and got up from the windowsill again. Her knees were weak and her steps anything but straight. “All that would change would be the name over the door but you won't do it!”

“Grace, I can't! I know absolutely nothing about metal refinery!”

“THEN READ!” she screamed at him, her head red with rage.

Jack growled loudly and silenced her like that. She was hurting and he wasn't comforting her, no, he was only making her hurt even more! Grace turned around and threw one of the vintage perfume bottles from her shelf onto the floor. He winced under the unexpected sound and the shards that sprayed over the floor.

Grace wasn't wearing shoes either, not even socks but the alcohol in her system was making her feel invincable. She even kicked against the biggest shard and cut the skin on her big toe without a single feeling reaching through to her fogged mind. She grabbed another bottle and another and another. They all landed on the floor, covering it with beautifully colored glass fragments and the blood from the cuts in her feet.

Jack wanted to calm her until she threw a bottle at him. He could lift his hands last second before it would've hit his head.

“Are you crazy?!”

“These bottles belonged to my greatgrandmother once!” Grace screamed at him.

“Then stop smashing them,” he replied just as loud as her.

“Why should I keep them? They are just glass! Worthless! My father's company is just as breakable as them.” And another bottle hit the floor. Grace knelt down and grabbed two handfulls of the shards. “This is all that is left from my father's legacy! His lifework! His family's legacy! You are not the only one who comes from an entrepreneurial family, Jack!”

“Yes, thank you, Grace. I know that! Otherwise I wouldn't have married you!” It sounded harsher than he'd meant it. He hadn't married her because she came from a wealthy family but it was unlikely to be an Omega and not come from such a family.

But Grace was drunk, hurt, and she only heard what she wanted to hear. “You are an asshole! A fucking, rich, arrogant, childish asshole!”

“And right now you act like a pretty bratty bitch”, he countered, this time even louder than her. His voice made her insides cringe. A bitch? So Emily was right all along it seemed! Jack closed his eyes, regretting his words instantly. He didn't want to argue with her, especially not now that her eyes filled with thick tears. Blood dripped from her fingertips onto the floor. She swayed a little before her eyes changed from sad to angry again and her hands curled into tight fists, driving the shards in her palms even deeper into her flesh. She didn't care, couldn't even feel them cutting through muscles and sinews.

Jack took a deep breath and opened his eyes just in time to catch her wrist when Grace wanted to slap him.

“Grace!”

She lifted her other hand and he caught it again. Grace struggled against his grip, kicked and screamed like a banshee. Jack wouldn't let go of her hands, not caring if he left bruises this time. He turned her around and pressed her back tightly to his chest so she couldn't hit him too hard if she kicked like a horse.

“LET GO OF ME!”

“CALM DOWN AND I WILL!”

She started crying again and pressed herself against his chest.

“Why can't you do this for _my_ family? Why can't you safe the company? Why not?” Grace stopped struggling and went limp in his arms.

“I'm sorry, Grace,” Jack whispered and he really meant it. He carried her into the bathroom to take care of the many cuts in her skin and flesh.

He sat her down on the edge of the tub and pulled the stool out from the corner, laying a towel over his lap before placing her feet on it. Jack leaned back and found tweezers and gauze bandages in one of the drawers of the washing table.

“This might hurt a bit.”

“I don't care,” Grace whispered, looking down to her blood covered hands on her lap. She didn't feel anything. Nothing mattered to her. Her whole life lay in pieces in front of her. She had been loved and cherished once, now she was bleeding, alcohol pumped through her veins, numbing her to the tender touches of his hands. Grace watched him pull one shard after the other out of her flesh and let it fall into the towel on his lap. His jaw was twitching and the heavy breaths he took through his nose were clear sign that he was boiling on the inside. She probably shouldn't have thrown the bottle at him but the thought didn't make it through her whole head.

The bathroom was completely quiet apart from their breathing. Silent tears fell from her eyes but Grace didn't cry, not consciously. Her arms and shoulders were covered in bruises by now. Her feet and hands were cut and sliced open by the different colored glass shards. At least now Jack wouldn't know which bruises were from him and which were caused by Nicolas, Grace thought with a little huff.

“What?” he asked sharply without looking up at her wet cheeks or red, puffy eyes. Grace remained silent and watched him now wrap her left foot into gauze before getting to work on the other. “Do I have to lock the alcohol away? When I come home from work tomorrow, will you lay on the couch in delirium or already suffocated at your own vomit?”

“Shut up,” she whispered and closed her eyes.

“No, you got to shout at me, now is my turn. I would've only mismanaged your father's company and you would've still hated me. Why should I endanger a still functioning company with my ignorance and ruin hundreds of people's lives when there might be another potential buyer with better preconditions and more knowledge of the matter?”

“I said, shut up. I got that you won't do anything for me and I'm sure your Daddy has already given you hell for not being obedient.”

Yes, he had and Jack had desperately tried not to show her how bad he felt because of it. Did she really think that dissappointing her was easy for him? She was his wife and he wanted her to be happy, but he simply couldn't do it. Why couldn't she understand that?

It took him another hour until he had taken care of every little piece of glass that had penetrated her skin and had wrapped her in white gauze to avoid infections. She had sobered up a bit by the time he put away the tweezers and the rest of the gauze.

“There's only one reason my father would give up his company,” Grace whispered, fighting against new tears rising behind her eyes. Jack looked over his shoulder towards her. He could guess what she meant. “He'll die.”

“Everyone dies one day. Maybe he's just tired of working and wants to retire, spend more time with your mother and maybe travel or-”

“My father will die and because I'm merely an Omega, I cannot keep the company in our family,” she interrupted him and wiped away a tear from her cheek before she added in a silent tone, “You were my last hope.”

Jack clenched his teeth tightly. It felt like she was twisting the knife in the wound. He simply couldn't help her, no matter how much she wanted it or how much he wished he could do it for her. What he could do was bringing her to bed and pulling her into his arms as she silently cried herself to sleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is as far as I've written up until now and I don't know if I can find the time to keep writing in the near future with Uni and assignements knocking me over the head. But I promise that I will keep writing and posting when I have time again.


	25. Letters

When Jack came home two days after her breakdown, something was different. It took him a moment before he finally realized that Grace was nowhere to be seen. He searched the house with a deepening frown the more empty rooms he found. He eventually found her in the darkest corner of the garden, sitting under the lilac and the purple wysteria on the small white metal bench.

She didn't look up when he called her name or asked her what she had there in her hands. It looked like a letter with a few hand-written lines. Slowly, Grace stood after he had sat down next to her, worry painted over his face. She handed him the letter and walked back inside the house without a single word.

 

_Dear Grace,_

_I am very sorry to tell you that your father died of lung cancer today. The funeral and the service will be in a week at the Madison Cemetery._

_Love,_

_Your Mother_

 

Jack looked up from the few unpersonal lines and shook his head. How could a mother write a letter rather then tell her daughter herself and then such little information coming out of the blue. He hadn't known about his father-in-law's cancer illness and Grace hadn't had contact with her parents since her Uncollaring. She hadn't said a word about the cancer two days ago or before her breakdown. Had she known?

Jack was up on his feet and on his way after Grace before he even realized it. He had expected to find her crying, shattered, devastaded ...but she looked fine when he found her. Grace stood in the kitchen and apologized because dinner wasn't ready yet.

“Do you really want to make dinner? We could order something?” he offered softly, walking around the kitchen counter towards her. But Grace pulled her hand away before he could reach it. She smiled at him and shook her head.

“I'm fine.”

“Your father died.”

“Yes, I can read, Jack. I had enough time to prepare for this message,” she smiled and pulled out everything she needed for chicken teriyaki from the fridge.

“Grace, you don't have to make din-”

“I'm fine, Jack,” she interrupted him with another smile. This had to be a fake one ...but it looked so genuine it was creepy. Maybe she needed time to let the knowledge of her loss sink in.

Grace worked on autopilot, making dinner, avoiding his eyes and turning down his unnerving tries to help her. She didn't need his help, she wanted to be left alone and so she send him off to his weekly training.

It was giving her enough time to grief silently and do what was necessary. Did Annabelle know? Had her mother told her? Did she even know the address? Grace shook her head. No, her mother had cut off all strings to Annabelle after her husband's death. Now would be the best but saddest opportunity for the family to reunite. Her father would've wanted to see this.

Suddenly her throat closed up, she couldn't breathe, a heavy weight sat on her chest. Tears started blinding her and a desperate sob escaped her lips before she could muffle it with her hands. She grabbed a pen and a sheet of paper and wrote Annabelle a letter:

 

_Dear Annabelle,_

_I don't know if you already know but Dad died yesterday and will be buried in three days on the same cemetery as your husband was. I don't know if you'll receive this letter in time or at all. After all the address you gave me is seven years old and so much has changed in my life so maybe you are no longer where you went to after you left._

_I miss you and I am so sorry that you'll hear the first time in years from me with such a message. I hope I'll see you at the funeral._

_I love you._

_Grace Chasseur-Hunter_

 

Just as the ink had dried she wanted to put it into an envelope but a noise coming from the door startled her into a stupor. Keys in the lock! What was he doing here so soon after leaving again?

Grace wanted to hide the letter before he could see it. Annabelle was the dark family secret and his father already hated her. She didn't need more fodder for his canons against her.

“I know, you said you were fine but -” Jack stopped in his tracks when he saw her quickly hide the letter behind her back, cheeks wet from the tears she hadn't been able to suppress any longer.

“What's that?” he asked but was only met with a silent shake of her head. She made a few steps back when he came closer. “Grace, show me what you're hiding there.”

Another shake of her head. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. Jack wasn't proud of what he did next but within two strides he was with her, grabbed her arm in an iron grasp and forced her to reveal the bunched up piece of paper in her hand. The first lines he read were "I miss you..." and "I love you" and something in him suddenly switched.

“What is this? Do you write your lover when I'm gone? Are you cheating on me?”

“No, Jack, it's not what you think,” Grace cried, “please let go of my arm. You're hurting me.”

“I will not allow you to make a fool out of me!”

“Please,” Grace cried harder and her knees gave in. She had tried not to cry in front of him but once she had started she couldn't stop again.

Jack was looking down at her like he couldn't comprehend what he saw but pulled her up and against his chest before the sound of another heart clenching sob had even made it completely through the room. He purred as deeply as he could, providing as much comforting vibrations and warmth as possible. She was shaking like a leaf and let go of the piece of paper. It drifted to the ground and Jack glanced at the addressee; Annabelle.

Annabelle? Jack sighed reliefed and buried his nose into her hair, purring even deeper do apologize for his freak-out.

“Who is Annabelle?” he asked silently and stroke his arms up and down her back. She shook her head, just breathing was still too much of a challenge to add words to it and risk another breakdown. Her knuckles turned white as she clutched onto his jacket.

* * *

 

Three days later, Jack knew who Annabelle was, he had send the letter for Grace to tell her about their father's death and the soon funeral. Jack walked on egg shells around Grace and hoped he would never see her collapse or break down like he had already done.

They drove to the Madison Cemetery when the day of the funeral had come. It was a morbid beauty to see her pale features and cold expression dressed in a pitch black, high necked dress. She hadn't cried since the first day. With every second that had gone by without any notice from her sister had buried her hopes to see her sister again under more and more pain.

Now, in the small chapel, filled with friends and colleagues of the late Albert Chasseur, Grace found herself holding onto her husband's hand. Their fingers were interlaced. In her other hand, she held a hankerchief, although she didn't need it. Jack had expected he would have to hold her while crying but whenever he allowed himself to glance at her, she looked like she was completely oblivious to the fact that the coffin in front of them under the countless flower bouquets was her father's.

Her mother sat on the opposite side of the aisle between her best friends. They had already sat like this when Jack and Grace had entered and none of them had moved in order to let the family sit together. Jack tried not to stare at them with a glare for this incedent behavior. Maybe his mother-in-law had asked them not to leave her alone, but Grace was her daughter. That should mean more than '''just'' friendship.

The service was nice and short. The priest didn't talk much about the life of the deceased but concentrated more on what would happen after death. Catholic and all.

Her friends shielded Grace's mother on their way and at the grave while the coffin was lowered into the ground. Grace leaned against Jack, her ice cold finger were still interlaced with his. Jack kissed the crown of her head and squeezed her hand lightly to offer her a bit of comfort. He scanned the crowd evey now and then, almost in hope he would catch a glimpse of his mysterious sister-in-law. But nobody in the right agr or the fitting appearance was there. His heart sunk a little for Grace. Either Annabelle hadn't received the letter he had almost lost his wife about in a fit of unfounded jealousy or she simply didn't care. Ian had tried to remember the address on the envelope and looked for it online but other than the state he had forgotten everything again. At least he knew that the address had been close to one of the lakes with a native-american name upstate. He was just terrible in remembering things.

With her sister not present at the funeral and her mother in the circle of girlfriends, Grace remained stoic by his side the whole time. Jack could feel that she hurt. Especially because her mother not even as much as looked at her as if her husband's death was her fault. Which it wasn't. Jack had made a few phone calls after his futile online search for Annabelle's current location and had found out that Albert Chasseur had suffered severe lung cancer over the last couple of years and no therapy could've safed him from an early grave.

The days after the funeral were slow, creeping by second by second as if it wanted to punish Grace for some unknown sin she had committed. Her mother didn't answer or return her calls. None of her 26. When Jack came home, he found Grace wiping her cheeks dry and putting on her beautiful, but sadly, fake smile for him.

For once, Jack wasn't buying it that cheap and pulled her into a hug, still in his coat and shoes. Grace simply closed her eyes and sucked his scent deep into her lungs to make at least some of the pounding pain inside her ribs go away.

“She still hasn't called me back,” she mumbled against his chest. Jack ran his hands up and down her spine to calm her a bit before he pulled away and walked towards the wardrobe. Grace blinked confused until she saw him grab her coat to help her in it.

“We'll visit her and see how she is,” he offered with a kind half-smile and knew why she hasitated. The what if's were haunting her again. What if her mother had killed herself like so many other Omegas who had lost their long-time mate? What if she wasn't home and nowhere to be found? And the worst, what if her mother was home ...and happy?

But Grace knew she would never find peace if she only had questions running through her brain. Her steps were still cautious and slow when she walked towards Jack and slid her arms into the offered coat. He kissed her neck before also placing her beloved silk scarf around it.

The drive to her old home was torture. Her heart tried to flee out of her chest, recklessly attempting to break her ribs on it's way out. Or at least it felt like it. She kneaded her cold hands and slid deeper and deeper into her seat the closer they got to the house she grew up in. Jack watched her attentively from the corner of his eyes and at some point needed to lower the window because her fear was making the air in the car nauseating for him.

As soon as they were at their destination, he pulled her into another tight hug and purred for her, not caring a bit if the whole world heard him as long as she stopped smelling so awefully bad. Grace thanked him in a small voice and took a deep, shaky breath before ascending the stairs to her parent's house.

The windows were dark, which wasn't new because they had stopped using most of the front rooms over the last years. Who needed a piano salon when nobody in the family could play and the little library had been her father's home office ...who didn't need it anymore.

The thought that when she would enter the old, tall room, there wouldn't be a low grumbling and murmur coming from behind his poorly lit desk, choke her half to death. She had always liked strolling around the high bookshelves, reading the titles of old classics and modern prose with her father working as a background noise.

Grace pressed the door bell before she could start crying again. Nothing happened and slowly the panic in her gut reached out to capture her already rapidly beating heart. She tried again and again, hammering against the milky glass in the front door and calling her mother's name until Jack stopped her and pulled her back into his arms. She sobbed into his chest, truly believing that she had finally lost everyone she once loved.

“We should call someone,” he whispered and she knew that he meant calling the police, so that they can break down the door and find her mother to spare her the sight. With a heavy heart and another hurting sob she nodded and descended the stairs again. She wanted to wait in the car where nobody but her and Jack would be able to smell her grief.

But before they made it there an older couple stopped them.

“Isn't that the little Grace?” the woman asked and squinted her cloudy eyes, “Yes, it's her. You've become such a beauty.”

Grace had to think hard before she finally remembered the two.

“Mr and Mrs Bernadotte, how nice to see you again,” she lied and quickly wiped the tears from her cheek before she turned to Jack to explaine, “These are the parents of one of our neighbours. I used to play in their garden as a child because they had a trampoline.”

“Were you here to get something for your mother? How is she? We haven't heard from her since she left for her sisters.”

“Sisters?” Jack asked and furrowed her brows, “I thought your parents were both only childs.”

Grace bit her tongue to keep from bursting into tears. Yes, her mother had no siblings, no brothers and also no sisters. This could only mean that her mother had left and lied to the only people who would come by from time to time before she had vanished for good.

“We're very sorry that we couldn't attend your father's funeral,” Mr Bernadotte grumbled with a sympathetic expression on his weatherworn face.

Grace looked down to the bright stoneplates of the sidewalk and nodded silently, not trusting herself to talk without screaming out her pain. Jack lay his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. He was still sometimes clueless if she wanted his comfort or not even if she was bursting into tears right in front of him.

“We were very happy to hear that your mother wouldn't stay in the old house. I'm sure she will find solace in the convent,” Mrs Bernadotte sighed and gasped when Grace suddenly lifted her head with wide eyes.

“Convent?”

“Yes, well, didn't you know? Your mother chose to go into a convent for widowed Omegas in the north. To her sisters. I though you knew, Grace.”

“I didn't know your mother was religious.”

Grace didn't even hear Jack's words. In a convent, it echoed through her head over and over again. Her mother wasn't dead and not on her way there. She just wanted to be with women who shared the same fate. She remembered that she had talked with Annabelle about joining a convent after her Alpha had died. Needless to say that Annabelle had refused and had gone her own way ...out of the family's favour.

“Oh, young man, an Omega convent has nothing to do with religion. It might have had a couple of hundred years ago. Nowadays it's more like a sisterhood for women who want to withdraw from the noisy and draining world,” Mrs Bernadotte explained with an almost motherly tone in her voice.

“Thank you,” Grace breathed and ran over to the car. She ripped open the door and slammed it shut behind before she could let out the heaviest sigh of her life. She buried her face in her hands and started to cry, this time out of relief.

Jack thanked the old couple and joined Grace in the car a moment later. “Are you okay?”

His voice was barely above a whisper as if he feared she would break under any more volume. Grace lifted her head out of her hands and nodded with an honest smile.

“I should've remembered her talking about it once.”

“You had your head full. You can't blame yourself for assuming the worst. Better than to get caught by it off guard.”

He gave her a smile too before turning the key in the ignition and driving them home again.

* * *

 

The next day, Grace found a letter from Maine in their postbox and could already smell her mother's scent on it. She knew she had nothing to be afraid of, yet she still hesitated opening it before Jack was home that evening.

She asked him to read it first.

“Are you sure? It's not addressed at me but you.”

Maybe he was right, or her mother had wrote something mean about her or Annabelle in the letter and she didn't even want to read it. Grace knew her mother. If she had had a problem, she had never found solace in her arms. Her mother had always challenged her to be better, brighter, more beautiful and Omega-esque, how she had put it. Maybe her mate's death had only made her harder?

“Please,” Grace whispered and walked over to her armchair to wait for his verdict. Jack felt uncomfortable reading a personal letter, a correspondence between family members he wasn't a part of, technically. Reading the letter for Annabelle had been worse enough. Maybe he should see it as some kind of an act of faith that she allowed him to read it, or maybe she just wanted to prove that she had nothing to hide and his jealousy had been completely misplaced ...which he knew by now.

Nonetheless, he read the letter in his hands.

 

_Dear Grace,_

_I am very sorry that I haven't had the courage to say goodbye to you in person. You would've deserved something better than a piece of paper and an empty house full of memories. With your father, my mate and love, gone I'm alone and I'm not ready to follow him yet although the thought that I will see him once again is a comforting one. But when I find him waiting for me in the afterlife I want to be able to tell him stories about our beautiful, bright grandchildren, I'm very sure of you and your husband will have before long._

_When the time comes and you can forgive me my cowardice and silent disappearance, I'd be honoured to return to you. But for know I need to heal somewhere where nothing reminds me of what a wonderful man, father, friend, and husband I have lost._

_Sadly you and Annabelle are two of those things. Annabelle for his young wildness that, no doubt, she will still act out wherever she goes, and for your tenderness he only ever showed in the most private hours. I know I've been hard to you even though you not always deserved it but please understand that all I have done was for the best of the family. Every harsh lecture and unkind word was only held and said to help you grow into the role every wife, mate, and mother has to grow into eventually. I hoped that I could make the parting easier for you if I was as strict as I could without slipping into self-hatred. I know I inspired something similar to hate in Annabelle shortly before she left and probably many years earlier and I tried to hold on to you and help you find a man and husband that was worthy enough to be awarded with such a wonderful woman like you are today._

_The sisters here in the convent are also widows, so they understand my grief without taking offence in any of my foul moods or rants when I dream about my lost love at night. I wasn't allowed to bring any of his belongings with me to make the cut clean but I send you the Deed and the keys to your old home. It is yours now with everything that it holds, every memory, scent, sound, and felling you once experienced there._

_I beg you, if you decide that it's too painful for you to keep it, please sell it but hold back a few loved items of your father's. I know you are a great collector and I know you've got that from him. Please don't act out of your nature and get rid of everything we have left of him._

_When I return, sooner or later, whenever my heart stops to clench in my chest just by the mere thought of him, I would like to have at least a small token of him to carry with me wherever I am, knowing that he is still watching over me._

_I was heartbroken when I didn't see your sister at the funeral. I am sure your father would've liked to see us all conclude peace over his grave and bury our quarrels with him. I have no idea where she is or how I could find her and it haunts me to know that she never got the chance to see your father again. If you see her, know where she is or if you even come to talk to Annabelle, please ask her if she would find it in herself to forgive me and the nasty things I said in a heated argument that only brought hurt into our family. I would like to see her again._

_I'm very sorry, Grace._

_I love you._

_Your mother_

 


	26. Getting to know the family secrets

The next morning Grace had read her mother's letter about a million times. The paper was already feeling smoother from the many times she had ran her fingers over the lines. A few tears had fallen onto it while reading it the first three times, clutching her hand over her mouth and sinking deeper and deeper into her beloved armchair.

Jack had held her the whole night and made them breakfast in the morning, offering her a few more minutes of sleep before another day without her family began.

“We are invited for dinner tonight.”

“By?” she asked and slowly swirled her spoon in her tea. She had forced a slice of toast inside her, not feeling like eating today. But she didn't want Jack to worry about her again. This time he really had no reason to. She had known for years that her father's health had been going downhill and with her mother ''safe'' in Maine, there was no reason to cry anymore. Except the fact that she was completely alone and her sister was probably dead too and nobody would ever be able to tell her where she was.

“Rick and Nina. Edward and Philip will be there too. They want to get to know you.”

Grace nooded and watched the milk swirl in clouds in her tea.

“I would've expected a bit more reaction. After all, you will shake the hands of the people who could bring down our family.”

“I'm sorry if I don't jump in the air because I will be presented to the dark family secrets, liars and two-timers who shouldn't even have any business with happily married people,” she murmured and closed her eyes when she heard her own words.

Jack pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at her. “Maybe I should reschedule the dinner. I had though you might appreciate the distraction but obviously you want to be left alone.”

No, that was not what she wanted and none of the things she had just said were what she had wanted to say. Grace was just tired and ...alone. Where was Annabelle and why hadn't she answered? Was she dead?

“No, I'm sorry. I promise I won't embarrass you tonight.”

“It's not the embarrassement I'm afraid of.” Jack stood up and walked around the table to stand behind her. He lay his hands on her shoulders and tenderly massaged her tense muscles. “I want you to have fun.”

And he wanted her to feel less excluded from his family. He had heard the whispers about her at his mother's birthday and knew instantly that Emily had made her hit again. He could still hear his mother's words in his head when Emily had plainly insulted his first girlfriend so much that she had broken up with him, “She's your little sister. You shouldn't be mad at her.”

Well, if his ''little'' sister didn't learn to behave and welcome his _wife_ into the family, he would get mad at her sooner or later. She didn't have to become Grace's best friend but a little less meanness wouldn't kill Emily either.

Then again, maybe it had been her hormones running wild again. Jack's father had not only screamed and scuffed at his ''cowardly'' decision not to take over Chasseur Metal Refinery, but also informed him that Emily was pregnant again. The third grandchild and again from his only daughter while his first born once again disappointed him.

It had stung back then and the memory hurt just as much. If he already had such a hard time with his family, he couldn't imagine how she must've feel.

“Are they friendly?” Grace asked, still with closed eyes and revelling the feeling of his hands massaging her shoulders. Jack kissed the top of her head and hummed a “Yes, they are” into her hair.

“Then don't reschedule. I'll pull myself together.”

* * *

 

At 7 pm Grace found herself in Rick and Nina's house. Jack had told her a bit about the two strangers she would meet in a few seconds. Edward, Grace already knew, was Nina's older brother and worked in the legal office of the company. Philip was a primary school teacher, a private school for Omegas only. Emily's children visited the school and through some strange tricks of fate and a weekend fundraiser they had met and fallen for each other.

Philip had a kind smile. That was the first thing Grace noticed about him when they got introduced to each other in the living room. Edward didn't look unfriendly either but he had the typical harsh Alpa-esque features and that pretty much reduced him to being friendly and not kind.

Nina was beaming with joy to have Philip here with her. She hung by his arms and never left his side. Grace envied her for the happiness, even though she could only enjoy it in secret. Jack had his arm draped around her shoulders and drew some strange patterns on her shoulder. It was a nice little gesture but somehow lost on her tonight.

“We heard about your father,” Nina breeched the subject Jack had told them to leave untouched but that's how Nina was. Grace only looked down to her hands on her lap. She had them curled into tight fists, the knuckles turning white while her face remained completely calm.

“We're very sorry for your loss,” Rick chimed in and added, “I don't even want to imagine how you must be feeling.”

“Then don't,” Jack hissed, closing his arm protectively around Grace, and glared at his little brother. Had he spoken Swahili when he had asked them not to talk about that tonight?

“I'm sure your brother just wanted to say-”

“I'm sure my brother doesn't need you to defend him, Edward.” Jack glared at him too now and felt Grace tensing in his half-embrace. She freed herself from him and excused herself to catch some fresh air on the terrace. When Jack wanted to follow her, he received the most hateful glare he had ever gotten from anyone in his life. But it changed into an apology before she has turned her head away again.

“Maybe she just needs a moment,” Nina murmured.

“Maybe we should stop assuming what she needs and wants.” Everyone looked at Philip, who as the only person in this round had also lost both his parents, had the best argument to assume what she wanted and needed.

“I think I should look for her,” Jack said after mere 20 seconds had passed but Philip was up before Jack had even finished his sentence.

Grace sat on the stone stairs that led down into a tiny townhouse garden and blinked against the tears that fought their way to the surface. She didn't want to cry in front of strangers and not in front of Jack. She knew it wasn't his fault that the company left her family, and it wasn't his fault that she hadn't found the time ...or will to visit her parents after the Uncollaring but it was so much easier to be angry at him than the world in a whole.

“Do you want to be alone for a while?” she suddenly heard behind her and startled up. After the attack from Nicolas she had become jumpy. But Philip kept his distance, knowing that strange Omegas are not to be touched under any circumstances. He had only ever mistreated this rule once: for Nina.

Grace looked at him for a moment. It it had been Rick or Jack she would've said yes and send them back inside again but he seemed so much calmer than any Alpha could ever be. Maybe it was just that Betas had a more subtle scent then Alphas and Omegas.

She shook her head and sat down again. Philip joined her and sat down beside her. They didn't touch but Grace didn't need contact, she needed calm and quiet company. Jack thought she needed distraction and his hand constantly hovering over her. Well, how should he know what she needed.

“He's trying,” Philip said calmly after a while. Grace was impressed that Jack hadn't dragged her back into his sight again until now. He really seemed to trust Philip ...not to be stupid enough to try anything with three Alphas around him.

“He is.”

“You're not making it easy for him.”

“Why should I? It's not easy for me either.”

“He can't understand. He's not been through what we've been through. He doesn't know what it feels like to lose the meaning behind the word _family_.”

Grace looked at him for a moment. And he knew? “What happened to yours?”

“A car accident. My parents and little brother were on their way home from a baseball game of Tony's Little League team and a drunk hit them with his truck.”

“How old were you?”

“Sixteen. The parents of my best friend let me live with them until I was finished with school.”

“Well, and I'm married,” Grace whispered, “Both always and never alone.”

“None of them know what _truly_ being alone feels like. Their über-father and perfect mother have always been there for them. Will be there for them for at least another ten years. How old will Jack be then?

“48,” Grace answered and curled her hands into tight fists again. It was just unfair that he had everything and she would still be loathed by the only ''family'' she had left now.

“Will it get better? After a while at least?”

“Yes, after a while. You will find yourself in a couple of weeks, realizing that you haven't thought about your parents for a few days now. That's when it comes back but not as hard. After that, healing is almost over.”

Grace nodded and wiped away a few angry tears that had found their way to the surface.

“And what about him? He'll keep saying and doing all the wrong things.”

Philip let out a high chuckle and stood up. “I'm not an expert on Alphas but maybe telling him what you need and want would be a good starting point?”

Isn't he supposed to know that without my help, she wanted to snarl but bit her tongue. She had already discredited her husband with her last question because she hadn't thought. She couldn't make Jack seem like a bad husband in front of anyone. She couldn't lose him too, no matter how much she sometimes asked herself if it hadn't been a mistake to marry him.

“Do you want to stay out here for a few more minutes? Or do you want me to send Jack out? You know, for starting point purposes?”

Grace managed a smile but declined his friendly offer. “I'm coming with you back inside. It's getting chilly out here.”

They walked back inside the house and found the group already gathered around the dining table. Grace slid into her seat next to Jack and instantly felt his eyes piercing into her skin like daggers. When she lifted her gaze, she had expected to see him angry but he only looked concerned.

“I'm fine,” she whispered and gave his hand a short, assuring squeeze before she wanted to start her dinner but Jack wouldn't let go of her hand again. He forced her to look at him again and lifted his eyebrows like he didn't believe a word she said.

“Please, just let it slide,” Grace breathed, a new lump forming in her throat. Two looks from him and she was ready to burst into tears again. Great.

“Looks delicious, Nina,” Edward commented the dinner and already had half his plate picked clean before Grace had even had the chance to taste.

“You eat that disgusting crap from gas stations. I don't give anything on your opinion, Ed. Remember the games you always played with me? _What can you eat before ...?_ ”

Edward needed a moment before he remembered and bursted into laughter. “Oh my god, yes. I remember that you are two cans of cat food because I dared you and mom was so grossed out that she gave the cat away just so that there would be no more cat food in the house.”

Nina didn't even turn red from embarrassement. No, she hit back.

“And I know that I had to give up painting because my paints were suddenly missing and the neighbours stopped talking with us after their kids ''got colorfully sick all over their persian carpet''. Wasn't it the same year they had to pump your stomach because -” She stopped herself before she had the chance to end the sentence. Edward knew what she had remembered and smiled sadly.

“Because I had swallowed mom's sleeping pills together with dad's best bourbon and wanted to jump from the roof. Yup, the very same year.”

Grace could almost feel the tension pulling every single fiber of her muscles. Rick only stared at his partner and placed his hand over Edward's. The questioning look on his face was tained with deep, loving concern. That part was missing when Jack looked at her with concern. Maybe that was part of what brought Lena to the edge all the time.

“The neighbours' boy was my first boyfriend, my first big love. He was send away because ''I was no good company''. He managed to kill himself before they could get him to bourding school.”

Well, this day was getting worse and worse. But, as weird as it might sounded to Grace herself, it was nice to know that she wasn't the only one with problems sitting at the table with the golden boys of the Hunter-family. The rest of the evening was, oddly enough, rather enjoyable. More cheerful stories from the childhoods were passed around, little escapades and memories of long ago goofs Nina played Edward or his friends. Jack stayed absolutely quiet the whole time. It was almost striking how remarkably silent he could be over hours.

When he wouldn't say anything on their way home, Grace started to worry.

“You're very silent tonight.”

“I don't want to say or do the wrong things.”

She knew he had been listening to Philip and her talking. She closed her eyes and let out a speechless huff.

“I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I wanted to tell you that dinner was wainting whenerver you wanted to come and rejoin us,” Jack explained without taking his eyes off the red light.

“Have you heard everything we said?”

He shook his head and grinded his teeth.

“You simply don't understand, Jack, and I can't explain.” Grace felt herself getting close to tears again. “I just need time.”

“I'm giving you all the time you need but I also need the guarantee that you will come to me if you need something more than time. You're right, I don't understand what it feels like to lose someone you love that much ...and I don't want to find out what it feels like when I come home one day and find you with slashed wrists in the bathtub.”

Grace's head snapped around to him. Slashed wrists? Like his cousin's wife? Wait, where those actually tears glistening in the shine of passing street lights? She snaked her arm around his right elbow and leaned her head against his shoulder. “I promise that that will never happen, Jack. I'm not Margot.”

 


	27. Tragedy

Jack gave her time and comfort the following weeks. She had long phone conversations with Juliana and genuinely felt better even though she still had gloomy moments. Jack would sit next to her, helplessly confronted with the smell of her distress in the air and the knowledge that he couldn't make her feel better. But those moments grew fewer and fewer, and Grace seemed almost normal again.

A good sign he thought and dedicated more of his time back to work like usual.

About four weeks after the funeral Grace was just finishing the laundry downstairs when she heard the door. She frowned and looked at her watch. It wasn't even 3 o'clock. He was way too early. Maybe he tried to make up for the many times he had worked longer again the last couple of days? Or he was just coming home to get things to change, only to leave again for more work.

But when she saw him sitting on the couch, Grace knew something was seriously wrong. His shoulders were slumbed, his head hung low, his whole body screamed that something terrible had happened. She set down the laundry basket with their clean white shirts and walked over to him.

“What happened?”

Jack sat up a bit straighter and rested his head on the ball of his hand. He didn't look at her. Had he even heard her? Grace moved closer and lay her hand on his left shoulder.

“What's wrong?” she whispered, concern written all over her features. When he finally lifted his gaze to her eyes, he was shocked. He had never seen her look so anxious and it worried him. He pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Grace was too shocked to react immediately but snaked her arms around his neck a second later. Jack buried his face in the crook of her neck and took deep calming breaths. She started purring silently and threaded her hands through his hair, scratching his scalp tenderly. The single most tender moment of their marriage up to this second and it was on such a terrible day.

“Jack, what happened?” she tried once more and finally received an answer.

“Emily had a miscarriage this morning.”

Grace stared at him wide eyed and mouthed a horrified _Oh my God_.

She couldn't say a single word. The mere knowledge of this tragedy made her feel like a car had just rolled over her. Losing one's child was the worst thing that could happen to an Omega and even though she didn't have the closest relationship with her sister-in-law, Grace was just devastated.

“I just came home to change out of my work clothes and visit Emily in her gynecologist's private practice,” Jack continued while still burying his face in the crook of her neck.

Grace nodded still in a stupor and stood up from his lap. She walked over to the terrace door in a hurry as if she was trying to rescue herself into the arms of her vines and herbs.

 

Maybe he shouldn't leave, Jack thought when he looked after her but he needed to go see how his little sister was doing. He still couldn't really grasp what had happened. He quickly changed into jeans and a simple sweater. His father had given him permission to have a day off and he would probably spend the majority of it with his sister and his nieces.

Oh God, his nieces! Had they been there when it happened? Jack sincerely hoped not. When he hurried down the stairs again, Grace was just putting on her coat.

“What are you doing?”

She stopped immediately. “Don't you want me to come with you?”

How could he tell her that she didn't belong to his family long enough for such a visit and not sound like he wanted to freeze her out?

“Nicolas will be there too,” he said in a low voice and it did the trick. A pinch of panic lit up in her eyes before she looked to the side and took her coat off again. He thought it was only because she didn't want to give him reason to worry about her in his presence. Grace still hadn't told him about Nicolas' attempt to rape her weeks ago.

She walked into the kitchen and came back with a bouquet of white flowers in a circle of plants that looked like ..common garden weed?

“Please send my condolences. I hope this can help her at least a bit.”

Jack nodded and kissed her cheek before he said his goodbye, hoping that she was alright while he was checking on his family. Well, she was part of his family now ..but not really. He wasn't making sense to himself either but he didn't have the time to think about that right now.

Almost an hour later, thanks to the rush-hour traffic, Jack arrived at the private practice Downtown. Emily sat in the hospital bed with Nicolas by her side. Cate and Lily stood by the foot of the bed looking lost and forgotten to Jack but he wouldn't say anything. He had learned years ago that he had no say in their education.

“Hey,” he whispered and nodded over to his nieces. Lily ran over to him and swung her arms around his middle as best as she could. Emily looked at him and wrinkled her nose at the gift in her brother's hands.

“A gift from Grace for you. She picked them out herself.”

She eyed it suspiciously when he came closer to sit on the edge of her bed.

“This is weed,” Emily said quietly, “Your wife sends me the garbage from her garden?!”

The mood in the room changed all of the sudden. Emily glared at him and took the bouquet from his hands to take a closer look.

“I'm sure tha-”

Emily didn't let Jack finish his sentence. She threw the bouquet at her brother and shouted at him to get _“the fuck”_ out. Nicolas followed him outside and grabbed him by his sleeve. Jack was about to punch him but sticked to growling dangerously low until he released his arm again.

“Alright, alright.” Nicolas held up his hands in a non-threatening manner. “I just wanted to ask if you could take care of Catey and Lilian for a few days. Just until Emily is back on track.”

Jack clenched his teeth and thought for a moment before he eventually said yes. Emily was clearly not in the condition to take care of them and Nickolas, although an asshole, was her mate who she needed now. As harsh as it was, the girls were just ''in the way'' at the moment.

 

Two hours later, Jack was home again, smelling of the bouquet Emily had thrown at him and with a face like he had just been bitten by a vicious dog. Grace was in the kitchen, preparing the dough for a quiche for dinner. She had hoped he would come home sooner. But he was home, that was all that mattered.

“How is she?” she asked and wiped her hands off on a kitchen towel.

“Techy,” he sighed and looked over his shoulder towards the door, “what are you making?”

“Quiche Lorraine.”

He thought for a moment. “Leave the bacon out. We're having a vegetarian guest for a few days.”

Guests?, she thought alarmed and heard steps from the hallway. A second later his two nieces walked into the room and threw their bags over to the couch. Lily said a smiling hello while Cate put her earphones in and slumbed down on the armchair.

“They will stay here until their mother is feeling better,” Jack explained and lifted Lily up to give her a better overlook of the kitchen.

“What are you doing there?” the five year-old asked with her big brown eyes and an extended arm, pointing at the dough.

“Quiche Lorraine.”

Cate turned her head around to them and pulled one of her headphones out of her ear to shout, “I'm a vegetarian! Don't put murdered animals in it!”

And she was back watching the screen of her smart phone with her headphone back in. What a sweet girl, Grace thought sarcastically and involuntarily shook her head.

“She's so stupid lately,” Lily sneered and cuddled closer to her uncle only a second later.

“I'm sure, it's just a phase. She's in the right age.”

“In what age?” Jack asked, suddenly using a dangerous tone.

Grace didn't answer. It would only end up in a fight. She could feel his anger boil behind the calm facade he held up for his nieces. She kept on preparing dinner while he showed Lily the garden with all the new plants and flowers Grace had planted a few weeks ago.

“Mum shouldn't have done it,” Grace suddenly heard behind her when she was just about to pour the cream filling into the pre-baked form. When she turned around, Cate sat on one of the bar stools, her phone laying on the side table next to the armchair.

Wow, undivided attention from a teenager, she thought, this had to be something interesting. “What do you mean?”

“Didn't Jack tell you what she did?”

Grace frowned and glanced outside to her husband playing with his little niece.

“Mum didn't understand the bouquet you sent her and so she threw it across the room.”

“Then the gesture was lost. I can't blame her after what happened.”

“I can,” Cate scoffed, ”Mum is way too comfortable being the little wifey of Dad.”

“You shouldn't talk about her like that.”

“Why not? It's true. She doesn't even know what to do with chamomilles and what you wanted to gift her. She's just a mum, no ambitions to know more of the world.” She pointed at Grace with an open hand. “You know things!”

“Yes, but I'm also _a little wifey_ to your uncle.”

“But Jack supports it.”

“How do you know?”

“He lets you have the garden,” she argued and gestured through the window front towards Grace's favorite place on earth.

“Maybe your mother is happy like this.” Cate interrupted Grace with a huff and rolled her eyes. “What you want from life isn't what I want from life or what your mother or your sister want. Don't judge if you don't want to be judged, Catherine.”

Grace put the quiche into the oven and set the kitchen timer just in time for Jack and Lily to come back inside. He walked over to the fridge and offered the little girl a soda. Cate was instantly annoyed by the intrusion and wanted to walk back to her beloved smartphone when Grace stopped her.

“Would you like a tour through the garden?”

Cate turned around with an arched eyebrow, something that Grace had seen so many times on her uncle before. Jack looked at her the same way but more suspiciously. In the garden with the terrible teenager? Was she insane?

“Sure.”

And off they were. The dinner would still take a bit so they had enough time to talk outside where neither Jack nor her little sister could eavesdrop on them. Cate grabbed her phone and followed her aunt outside in the sunny garden. Grace picked up her white Fedora and guided Cate with her towards the herb section of the garden.

“Sage, balm, chamomile, lavender, valerian, all very calming,” the teen murmured and honestly impressed her aunt with her knowledge.

“You are interested in herbology?”

“I'm interested in everything that can help me survive my life with the mum-monster.”

“So you brew tea for yourself?” Grace asked and picked a leaf of the balm to hold it under her nose. It was her personal heaven.

“I gave that stuff to mum. She really needed that. She was so edgy the whole time,” Cate mewled and rolled her light brown eyes. She walked over to the white bench and slumbed down. “And nothing mattered to her anymore. It was only about the baby.”

Grace suddenly had a terrible thought. Some teas could result in miscarriages. Maybe she had caused her mother's current state. She didn't want to breach the subject without having hard evidence so she decided to talk about other topics.

“How old are you, Cate?” she asked and sat down beside her.

“Eleven, almost twelve”

“And are you excited?”

She frowned and glanced at her aunt. “For what?”

Grace only looked at her for a minute. She knew exactly what she meant. Cate turned a bit reddish around the nose and looked down to her hands on her lap. “I ..I'm afraid.”

“Why? It's something so natural.”

“Is it?” Cate squeaked terrified and Grace got an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Your mother told you about what will happen, right? You're almost twelve. It's the most important time in a young Omega's life.”

“Mum never had the time to give me ''the talk''.” She made the little quote signs with her fingers and started chewing her lower lip before she looked back up to her aunt. “Could ..you?”

Grace took a deep breath but kept quiet for a minute or two. She knew it wasn't her call and that's what she told her. “I think that's something that should happen between an Omega and her mother.”

“But mum never answered when I asked her. The only thing I found out is the name of the school they want to forget me in.”

“And what is it?”

“Woodlark Academy, not far away from the city.”

“I went to the same academy. I learned gardening there,” Grace told her with a wide smile on her lips, “It's a really great school. You will like it there.”

Cate grabbed Grace's hands and looked at her pleadingly. “Please tell me what will happen. I haven't slept in a week because I'm so damn clueless and nobody wants to tell me anything!”

Grace swallowed and knew exactly how she felt. Her mother had never given her ''the talk'' either. She had learned everything she knew from teachers, nurses, and older students at Woodlark or made her own experiences. She couldn't let her walk into her future as unprepared as she had been.

“Alright, Cate, what do you want to know?”

“What does it feel like?”

“What?”

The girl smirked a bit and blushed. “ _It_.”

“Heat or Heat with an Alpha?”

“Eww, please no stories about my uncle in anything less than his usual clothes.”

Grace laughed, understanding her but also smirking because Cate didn't know what she was missing out on. She shook her head slightly and tried to remember what her first Heat had been like. After all it had been 9 years.

“Okay, ehm, I was almost twelve when I had my first Heat, so your age. I remember the time before it. God, I hated each and everyone around me. Terrible, but as soon as I was in Heat everything suddenly made sense to me.

“You start to feel fidgety and you can't sleep. Everything inside you feels like it's pulsing. You will be sensitive to touch and scents. Woodlark will provide you with enough material for your nest and trust me you will hate your first tries, “ she laughed and continued, “But before your Heat really starts you will find the perfect placement for your pillows and blankets. It will feel like heaven to you even though you'll improve the more you practice.”

Cate let out a deep breath, tension leaving her body all at once. She leaned back and giggled relaxed. “And what does ..Heat in progress feel like?”

Grace smirked like a cat. “Warm and fuzzy. But also exhausting and tiring. You will have to take care of your ..lust yourself and the first time you are so overwhelmed with the new sensations you're feeling that you don't even notice that something/someone is missing.”

“Someone?”

“Yes, you will know what I mean when time comes. In my third Heat I was so frustrated because I couldn't cuddle with an Alpha that I screamed so loudly my pipes gave up and I couldn't talk for a week after my PostHeat had already ended.”

“Wow,” Cate breathed shocked. She just wanted to ask another question when Lily hopped over so them and asked with a sweet smile what they were talking about.

“Get lost, Lily!” Cate hissed and received a sticked out tongue by her sister.

“We're talking about what it's like to grow up. Boring stuff you don't need to know yet,” Grace said with a warm smile and laughed when the little girl wrinkled her nose and ran back inside.

“She's gonna snitch on us. She always does.”

“Your sister is only five years old. Let her be a child. She'll be in your position in a few years and then she'll be needing you to tell her all this.”

“So, you're my big sister here?”

“I'm your uncle's wife and I'd rather your mother would tell you all this but better me than nobody,” Grace sighed, regretting that neither her mother nor Annabelle had had this talk with her when she'd been in Cate's age. She didn't want her to be as unprepared as she had been back then.

“Dinner's ready!” Jack called from the garden door. There was a sternness in his voice that concerned Grace and even Cate noticed the shift in his tone. They walked back inside and while Cate sat down at the table, Grace walked to the oven to take the quiche out. Jack was in the bathroom with Lily to oversee her washing her hands. Little kids always had dirty, sticky hands but Grace held the opinion that a bit of dirt didn't hurt a child's immune system.

When they were back the quiche was already standing on the table waiting for the first cut. Jack was sitting between Lily to his right and Grace to his left at the head of the table, vibrating with anger. Cate frowned when she noticed it and looked at Grace for an answer but she only shrugged with one shoulder.

“Eat,” Jack ordered when he filled the plate of Lily and then his own. The little girl only made a grimace at the strange food in front of her nose and relunctantly disected her quiche for any sign of stuff in it she didn't like.

“It's delicious,” Cate complimented after the first bite and nudged her sister's side with a stern look to make her eat too.

“But it looks like it's not finished cooking yet.”

“Eat,” Jack growled dangerously low, glaring at his little niece. Grace stared at him confused. What was going on here? She never thought he would growl at Lily.

“But -”

“You'll eat this now, Lilian!” he interrupted the girl and made her wince under the volume of his voice. Grace carefully extended her hand and lay it on Jack's but he pulled it away as if she was made of fire.

“You are not her mother!” he shouted at Grace, glaring at her like she was nothing but scum, and within a heartbeat he was up from his chair and bursting out of the house, grabbing his keys on the way out of the entrance door.

Lily started crying and apologized over and over again. When she grabbed her fork and wanted to eat, Grace stopped her, trying not to let her smile fall. “If you don't like it, you don't have to eat it, Lily.”

Cate took her sister's plate and shoved her portion on her own plate.

“What would you rather eat?”

“I ..don't ..know,” she sobbed and cuddled into her big sister's side.

Grace chewed the inside of her cheek and tried to come up with something simple she could offer her as dinner replacement.

“Do you like French Toast?”

Lily thought for a moment before she nodded. Grace prepared a quick meal for her niece while wondering what had gotten into Jack. She knew she wasn't their mother. He didn't need to remind her of that little detail and definitely not in the tone he had used.

By the time Lily and Cate had eaten and were sitting in front of the TV watching catroons, Grace was washing the dishes, getting more and more worried with every second that went by without Jack being back home. Where was he? When was he coming back? Was he ever going to come back?

Of course, she told herself, this was his home and as soon as he had calmed down from whatever tantrum he was throwing, he would come back and act like nothing had happened. The miscarriage of his sister must've gotten to him more than Grace had anticipated.

“Hey, it's almost eight, Lily's bedtime,” Cate said, leaning over the counters and watching her aunt's hands disappearing in the bubbly washwater in the sink.

“There are two kids rooms upstairs. I'll prepare them for you two.”

“Oh, only one. Lily and I will share a bed. She's afraid of sleeping alone in a strange house.”

Grace only nodded. Lily would have to learn to sleep alone as soon as Cate was a resident at Woodlark.

 

Jack came back home long after the sun had gone down. He couldn't say what he had done in the hours he had needed to calm down again. It wasn't Grace's call to have this talk with Cate. And his niece was way too young to even think about growing up! At least in his mind. She was still the little girl he had taught the night sky to and who could name almost all star constellations.

It was too early to lose her. And with Emily having lost her baby, he could let her lose her oldest too. He had the feeling that Grace hadn't thought this through. How would she feel if Emily would take such an intimate moment from her and their daughter in a couple of years?

It just wasn't fair and Grace should've known better.

When he came home, the lights in the house were all out. So everyone was asleep. Which was fine with him because that meant that he could just sneak up into bed, maybe check on Lily and Cate on his way to the bedroom, and tomorrow morning he would just act as if nothing had happened. Worked for them ..mostly.

Jack dragged his feet up the stairs and peeked into the kids room closest to the bathroom. The door was left ajar so he assumed that Lily would sleep in it. And where Lily slept, her sister wasn't far. In fact, when he pushed the door open a tiny bit more he saw Cate looking back at him. She had Lily in her arms and lifted her head.

“I asked her. She only answered my questions. Don't be mad at her,” she whispered with a pleading look. Jack pressed his lips together until they were just a thin line. He just swallowed what he wanted to reply and wished her a good night instead before he closed the door behind himself.

The bedroom door was ajar too. No light but the moonlight that shone through the skylight lit his way.

Jack sincerely hoped that Grace was fast asleep when he would enter but just like Cate she was awake. As soon as he opened the door he looked into blue eyes staring at him from their bed.

“Why aren't you asleep?” he asked when he had closed the door behind him and Grace turned on her bedside lamp. He walked into his walk-in closet and changed into his pj's. Why couldn't she just be asleep?

“I was worried,” Grace answered, sounding not the slightest bit worried. When he had changed and returned into the bedroom, she sat upright in the bed with a blank face. Jack sat down on the edge on his side and pulled off his socks.

He took a deep breath and thought, that he couldn't just pretend he hadn't lost control at the dinner table. He knew that if he hadn't left he would've hit a wall in the best case and her in the worst.

“You are not her mother, Grace,” he said lowly without facing her.

“I know.”

“Then why are you telling her these things? She should learn them from Emily and not from you.”

“I know, Jack.”

“Then why?!” he hissed with gritted teeth and glared at her over his shoulder.

“Because your sister didn't answer when she asked and she is in an age where she _must_ know what will happen to her soon.”

“You don't know how soon that will be and my sister had other things to think about lately. In case you've forgotten, she had a miscarriage.”

Grace looked at him for a long time in which she just listened to his heavy breathing.

“It's not your fault, Jack.”

He stood up from the bed so fast she jumped a bit with shock.

“Shut up. You know nothing about my family!” he hissed and wanted to leave again until...

“I know that you think it's your job to protect your little sister and that you failed her because this happened but you had no hand in this.”

Jack stopped with his hand ghosting over the handle of the door. His heart was beating in his chest like it was trying to get free, breaking his ribs on it's way out.

“You didn't fail Emily, Jack.”

“Please stop talking,” he whispered. She had hit too close to home, making his facade splinter and crack. He just wanted to sleep and pretend this was all just a bad dream.

“Come to bed,” Grace whispered, unnaturally loud in the silent room. Although, no, it was so loud because she was standing right behind him. Her arms wrapped around his middle a second later. Her silent purrs filled his ears and calmed his racing heart back down again. Jack could feel his muscles relax the longer she purred. And he had almost lost it completely around her. He needed to take care of his aggression around her. Even after the four months they were married now, Jack still didn't see himself as her partner.

Grace's hands turned him around to face her. He leaned his back against the closed door and looked down at her face in the semi-darkness. Her eyes were gleaming with anger but she still managed to purr. But this anger only lit his aggression again. Being so close to her right now was dangerous.

“I would never say that your sister is a bad mother but mine didn't tell me anything of the things I _needed_ to know when I was in Cate's age and from what she told me, your sister has missed her cue on giving her the talk.”

“And with that you have just called Emily a bad mother.”

“No, I'm saying she has missed the right moment in time to prepare her daughter,” Grace hissed and made a few steps back, “She shouldn't have concentrated on the baby as much as she did. I'm sorry she had a miscarriage but being pregnant doesn't justify ignoring her other children's needs.”

“Oh, because you're such an expert on how it is to be pregnant and being a mother?”

“You know what? Fuck it. I can't turn back time and I am NOT sorry for what I did.” Grace threw her arms in the air and walked back to her side of the bed. Before she crawled back under the covers, she turned around to her husband one last time and gave him the most vicious glare he had ever seen on an Omega. “And if you ever shout at me like you did at dinner, I will shout back, but louder.”

Jack believed her every word but also wanted to grab her by the shoulders, push her down into the mattress and remind her who was the Alpha and who the Omega in the room. He knew better than to give in and decided it would be better to spend the night somewhere other than in the same room as her.

 


	28. Woodlark Academy

The next morning, Grace woke in an empty bed. She had silently hoped that as soon as he had calmed down again, Jack would come to bed, just so they could at least pretend last night didn't happen.

She hadn't lied. She wasn't sorry for telling Cate what she had wanted to know. No Omega should be completely clueless at such a time. It was just not understandable how a mother could be so oblivious to the fact that her oldest daughter was nearing this important time in her life and rather shove another catalogue with baby stuff in her face than to answer her questions.

Grace got dressed and went downstairs to prepare breakfast. Jack lay on the largest couch, on his stomach snoring like Grace had never heard him snore before. At least like this she could be sure that she noticed when he woke up. With a sigh she started making pan cakes in an attempt to sooth the edges they had left sharp last night.

And she was pretty sure that the girls would be into pan cakes as well, so it was a sure thing. Grace didn't move particularly quiet in the kitchen, making coffee and hot chocolate to fill the house with the homy smell of breakfast to lure the girls and Jack awake. It worked, at least for Cate. She sat down on one of the bar stools and murmured a sleepy “morning” with her head propped up on the ball of her hand.

“Good morning. How did you sleep?”

“Almost not at all.”

Grace looked at her concerned and stopped whisking the pan cake dough. “Why not?”

“I couldn't stop thinking.” Cate sat up straighter and consciously tried to avoid making eye-contact with her. “Did he ..?”

“Did who what?” Grace asked, laying her head to the side.

“Did Jack do something ..because of me? I heard you two argue when he came home.”

Grace was staring at the teen in front of her. Did Cate really think Jack had hurt her? Was it like that at home? Did Nicolas hurt Emily when he was angry?

“No, of course not. He -” Grace gestured to the couches “- spend the night on the sofa. He didn't hurt me, Cate.”

“Good, because I told him that I asked you to tell me. It wasn't your fault. I don't want to cause any trouble.”

“You didn't, believe me.”

Right on cue, Jack groaned and sat up. He stretched and Grace knew that he had been eavesdropping ever since Cate had entered the room. The absence of his snoring had not gone by unnoticed. Jack looked over to them in the kitchen and murmured a growling good morning before he disappeared upstairs to get through with his morning routine and dress himself.

“See, he isn't angry at me or you.”

Cate quirked her eyebrows at Grace and gave her a “yeah, sure”-look.

“What would you like to drink for breakfast?” she chose to change topics and added with wiggly eyebrows, “I have some chamomile tea from the garden.”

“Nah, I'm more into something extremely homy today. I'm feeling like tons of chocolate today.”

Uhh, Grace knew exactly what she meant. That desire overcame her whenever she was close to Heat too. A sudden fear washed over Grace but before she could react, Jack came back downstairs and was instantly stopped by Cate hugging him the moment he set foot into the room.

Oh-oh. Grace pulled the hot pan from the stove and walked around to them. Cate pressed her face into Jack's chest and made small content noises with closed eyes. No no no, this wasn't good.

“Cate, he's mine,” Grace said lowly.

Jack looked at her with furrowed brows. “She's just hugging m-”

Grace shushed him abruptly and stared at Cate intently. “Cate, let go of him.”

He wanted to object again when she suddenly heard a deep growl and a hiss at his chest. What the hell?

“Let go of him. Right. Now.” Grace's voice was sterner than he had ever heard her before. Her eyes were only directed at his niece who was still clasping onto him like her life depended on it. Cate hissed a second time, more aggressivly this time only to be herself a second later. Grace lept forward and pulled her into her arms tightly as soon as her arms loosened a little.

Jack stood next to them, listening to Cate's desperate apologies when she sobbed into Grace's shoulder. She stroked over the girl's hair and back, and soothed her with a few calming purrs.

“What the fuck?” Jack breathed confused.

“Mommy says _fuck_ is a bad word,” Lily suddenly scolded him from the hallway.

“And she's right,” Grace said and nodded, while still holding her crying sister.

“What's wrong with Cate?” the girl asked, picking up on the little sobs and whimpers from her older sister. Jack picked her up and looked at Grace for an explanation.

“Your sister isn't feeling well.”

Suddenly Jack smelled what was wrong. A sweet scent that smelled ..fresher than Grace did in her Heat filled his lungs. Cate noticed it too and tensed up. She took a step back and looked absolutely terrified.

“It's okay, Cate,” Grace said calmingly, and pulled her past Jack who had instantly started to react to the scent of an Omega in Heat.

“Is she getting well again?” Lily asked but it fell on deaf ears. Grace dragged Cate upstairs and Jack was too occupied with trying to suppress the need to rush after them and mount his own niece. He needed to get her scent out of his nose. He walked outside in the garden and carried Lily with him. She was getting scared by his heavy breathing and the way he wasn't answering her questions. As soon as they were at Grace's herbs the flowers' scent was strong enough to help him relax again.

 

Meanwhile, Grace and Cate had locked themselves into the bathroom upstairs. Cate had stripped out of her sleeping clothes, her underwear and pants soaked through with sweet slick.

“What's going on?” she cried horrified when Grace turned on the shower.

“It's the first wave of your Heat. It will be over in a few minutes and then we will have to get you to Woodlark.”

“What happened downstairs? I didn't want to hiss at you, I swear.”

Grace cradled Cate's face with her hands and wiped away her tears with her thumbs. “I know and I'm not mad at you. You just reacted like nature dictates.”

“But he's my uncle,” Cate whined, embarrassed to the bones.

“And an Alpha. I'm not mad and you don't have to be as well. It's all going to be fine.” Grace pulled the key from the lock and put it into the pocket of her jeans. “I will get you something clean to wear and I will have to lock you in here just for a minute or two. I don't want to risk anything.”

“But you just said-”

“That I wasn't mad and that's true. But I still don't want to fend off an Alpha who smells a young Omega in Heat. It's just for your personal safety.”

Cate nodded and stepped into the shower.

Grace locked the door behind her, before she ran downstairs to check on Jack. She saw him outside with Lily standing awkwardly beside him when he tried to get rid of his energy with push-ups on the grass.

“Fuck,” Grace muttered as she hurried outside. Cate was oversensitive now and smelling a potent Alpha's sweat would set off a new wave and they would never make it to Woodlark without bruises and felonies.

“Stop!” she screamed before Jack spotted her. He jumped up from the ground like it was nothing.

“What's going on?”

“No time to explain. She's taking a shower to get rid of the smell. Call her parents and tell them that we have to get her to Woodlark right now. She can't stay outside for a second longer than absolutely necessary. Wash off your sweat and change into something clean, take Lily and wait in the car. Cate and I will sit in the back as soon as we're done in the bathroom,” Grace ordered and still found the calmness to smile at Lily to make sure she wasn't too afraid.

Jack looked after her when she ran back into the house.

“Is Cate going to die?”

“N-no, Lily, she's just growing up,” Jack stuttered, fishing for his smart phone in his pockets. How the fuck was he going to explain to his sister that Cate wouldn't come home any time soon. Bringing her to her academy was just another thing that shouldn't be his task. But now he had to admit that Grace had been right. Obviously yesterday had been the last time to at least roughly prepare his oldest niece for what was going to happen to her and her body now.

Upstairs Cate was just washing off the slick that ran down her inner thighs. It seemed like it would never stop and she started freaking out. She started crying again, even screamed and eventually cowered in the corner of the shower, hugging her knees to her chest and slowly rocking her body back and forth.

Grace entered a moment later with a few of Cate's clothes she had found in her room. She helped the girl clean herself and handed the girl a tampon with the friendly advice to put it in at least for the ride to Woodlark.

“Can you drive?”

“Yes, but Jack drives us. I will be in the back seat with you.”

Cate swallowed thickly, fear written all over her face. “But ..but isn't that dangerous? What if I-”

“That's why I'll be in the back with you. Just trust me.”

The girl nodded and got dressed under Grace's observation. Once she was completely dressed, they collected the few clothes she had brought with her when she and Lily had arrived yesterday evening.

Jack and Lily were playing rock-paper-scissors in the front of the car to distract themselves. Technically, Lily was still too small to sit in the front seat without a children's seat under her but they didn't have one and now they had to take care of Cate above all.

As soon as the women slid into the backseat, Jack looked over his shoulder to Cate. He still couldn't believe that she was going to leave the family until her 17th birthday, or when she had required her High School diploma.

“I couldn't reach your parents. I guess they are both still in the clinic and have their phones turned off. I spoke on your dad's voicemail so he knows that we bring you to your academy.”

Cate nodded and snuggled more into Grace's chest, seeking comfort and protection in her arms. Jack took in the scene in front of him and couldn't deny that Grace looked like she ...would be a good mother one day. She held Cate tenderly in her arms, stroked over her back, and soothed her with a deep and hardly audible purr.

It took them about half an hour until they were out of Flint. Grace knew it would still be another half hour until they would reach their destination. Cate was turning fidgety again. She clasped onto Grace and made more and more little mewling noises that couldn't be overtoned by the car noises around them.

Jack checked on them in the rear view mirror every few seconds. Grace caught his glance and looked worried. “A bit faster, Jack.”

Lily hadn't once stopped staring at them with wide eyes ever since they had left home.

“I don't wanna grow up,” she whispered terrified when Cate whined loudly.

Grace looked at her with a warm smile. “It looks worse then it is. And do you really want to be a child forever? Never having a mate? Never having children yourself? Always having to go to bed so early?”

Lily just stared at her older sister and eventually shook her head with the first smile of the day tugging on the corners of her lips.

When Grace could already see the gates of her old Omega Academy, she squeezed Cate tighter and whispered into her ear that she had almost made it. The girl was shivering and felt the estrous cramps raking through her body getting worse again.

Jack lungs filled with her scent again and his hands curled around the steering wheel so tight that his knuckled turned snow white. He stopped in front of a high, victorian building made from grey bricks with uncountable little alcove balconies and turrets. Jack wanted to get out of the car until Grace stopped him quickly with a hand on his shoulder.

“You are not allowed to leave the car.”

He only looked at her over his shoulder and his eyes shortly met Cate's sweat covered, scrunched face before he nodded silently.

“Can I come with you?” Lily asked and jumped out of the car as soon as Grace nodded. A matrony, dark haired Beta woman with almost black eyes had noticed their unscheduled arrival already and recognized Grace immediately.

“Miss Chasseur, it's been a long time, but not long enough for you to have reason to visit us again,” she said with a stern voice with a tinge of false friendliness. She scanned the sweating Cate and Jack as he buried his face in his hands. “What is bringing you here?”

“My niece entered Heat unexpectedly and my husband was kind enough to bring us here immediately.”

“Is he trustworthy?”

Grace nodded and lay one hand on Lily's crown as she snuggled into her side. “Her bag is in the trunk. She is already signed into Woodlark but it seems her Heat came quicker than her parents expected.

The Beta nodded and her face changed to a friendly, soft expression when she turned to Cate who was breathing hard against Grace's chest.

“My name is Mrs Savannah Bloom, I am the head mistress of Woodlark Academy, your home for the next couple of years. What's your name?”

“Catherine Caine,” Cate stammered and mewled when another cramp hit her out of nowhere. Mrs Bloom snapped her fingers and two nurses, Grace remembered from her time here, walked towards the back of the car and retrieved Cate's bag when the women and girls walked into the entrance hall of the old and honorable academy.

“When were you born?” Mrs Bloom asked, pulling out her smart phone to check if they really expected her.

“4th October 2004,” Cate spit out with gritted teeth and turned towards Grace, “When does it get better?”

“We'll get you a room immediately. Actually we expected you a week ago, Miss Caine,” the head mistress said with pursed lips and put her phone back into the inside pocket of her black blazer. It might have seemed cruel to be so unpersonal to Cate while she was obviously in pain and agony but it was the only way to establish dominance right from the beginning as Omegas mostly came from rich families and saw Betas as servants and not figures of authority. Grace had learned it the same hard way but was thankful for the later years when the Betas working here, solely women, had become softer as soon as authority had been manifested in the daily interactions.

Grace had no second thoughts leaving Cate here in the arms of the nurse that now came towards them to show the teenager her room for her Heat. At first she didn't wanna let go of Grace and cluched onto her chest but after a long, deep purr and a soft “Everything will be fine” she finally let go. Lily watched her big sister being led into the stomach of the manor and hugged Grace tighly.

“Where are they taking her?”

“She gets a room where she will live now, like at home.”

“Can I stay with her?”

“No,” Mrs Bloom answered plainly and Grace continued, “You're too young to stay here.”

“Why must Cate stay here? How long? Can she come back home tomorrow?” Tears started to form in the little girl's big eyes and it broke Grace's heart. She hugged her back tightly and purred instead of answering.

“I will send an e-mail to her parents to inform her of her current where-abouts. Do you know why they didn't bring her as scheduled?”

“Her mother recently had a lot going through her head and unfortunately lost her baby which is the only reason why the two of them are with us at the moment. Cate showed first signs of estrous cramps this morning when meeting with her uncle.”

Mrs Bloom nodded knowlingly and thanked her former student before turning on her heel and following the same path Cate had gone earlier. Lily was crying by the time they were outside again. Jack wanted to go over to them to sooth his niece but Grace had told him not to leave the car. Even in his closed car he could smell the tantalizing, luring, enticing smell of young Omegas in Heat. He wasn't sure he could resist the urge to mate them, no matter if involuntarily or what age they were. He had already had thoughts about mounting his own niece so his rational brain seemed to be absent today.

Grace picked Lily up and carried her over to the back doors of the car. She let the girl climb into the backseat and followed her, quickly closing the door behind her again. Lily immediately snuggled back into her aunt's chest and silently sobbed into her warm, soft bosom.

“Please, bring us home again,” Grace said so calmly that she almost purred into his ear.

“Where is she?”

“She's safe here, Jack. Please start the car,” she repeated, now obviously purring for him, luring his animal brain to follow an Omega's wish. It worked and as soon as they had left the gates of the Omega Academy behind them, Grace opened the windows to clear the air in the limited space. Jack looked at her in the rare view mirror and mouthed a “thank you” while Grace softly rocked Lily in her arms.

The sound of her purrs turned more and more silent until they had ebbed away when Lily seemed to be better. She sat up straighter but was still cuddled into Grace's side when she started watching the tall trees and eventually even higher buildings pass them by on their way back home.

 


	29. I'm not saying I told you so, but...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am suuuuper sorry it took me so long to update and I guess that the next one will be taking a bit too. BUT I only have uni until 15th August and then I can be writing like I'd get paid for it.  
> So I'm not gone and I will not abandon this piece of work, I just don't get to sit down and write as much as I would like to at the moment.

When they were finally home again it was early afternoon. None of them had had breakfast and by now their stomachs growled like vicious beasts. Lily was silent and never wanted to let go of Grace's hand even when they were in the kitchen and all settled again.

“Lily, come here, please,” Jack sighed tired, having come back to his senses completely again, “Let Grace work.”  
She shook her head violently and held onto her even tighter. Grace could see the slight hurt in her husband's eyes over her rejection. She bent down to her niece and cradled her chubby cheeks with her hands. “You are sad because Cate is at the Academy now, right?”

Lily nodded and pouted her sweet lips.

“Jack too. Don't you wanna hug him so he feels better?”

Lily pulled Grace with her over to Jack sitting on the armchair and climbed onto his lap. Only there she let go of Grace's hand. Jack looked up to his wife and managed a little thankful smile. He would have to call Emily and tell her where Cate was living from now on. She hadn't just lost a baby but also her oldest daughter in less then a week.

When he called them, Nicolas was on the phone. He repeated what Jack had said and Emily's voice sounded in the background. His chest clenched tightly at the desperate sound of it, even though he couldn't understand exactly what she said.

“I will come and get Lilian home.”

“It's okay, she's fine here.”

“No, I will get my daughter home now,” Nicolas insisted and Jack closed his eyes in defeat. He was her father and no matter how much he hated him, he couldn't keep her away from him. With a deep sigh he said they would be home for the rest of the day and that he could come whenever he wanted.

An hour later he was at the door and Jack asked Grace to go upstairs and help her pack. It was apparent that he wanted to seperate Nicolas from his wife.

Grace watched Lily pack her things and could almost feel the tension between the Alphas downstairs crawl up the stairs to them.

“I don't wanna go home,” the girl whined and Grace contemplated asking if she was happy at home.

“Why not?” she asked instead and sat down on the bed next to her.

“Because I want to go to Cate. I want to be with my big sister.”

Yes, Grace remembered that feeling when Annabelle had left for Woodlark as well. Grace pulled the girl into a tight embrace and kissed her crown.

“Your father is waiting for you downstairs,” she whispered after a moment and stood. Jack positioned himself between Nicolas and Grace when she came downstairs. She was glad for that, though she was still sure that Jack didn't know what he had tried with her. And now that she saw Lily jump into her father's arms and snuggle into his chest for comfort. For her sake, Grace would bite her tongue and keep quiet.

Once they were gone and Jack let out a heavy sigh after closing the door, Grace walked up to him and hugged him from behind.

“I'm not saying I told you so but ...”

“Yeah, yeah. You were right and I'm sorry,” Jack murmured and leaned back at her.

“You could've just trusted in my judgement.”

Jack turned around and lifted his eybrows at her. He saw a tiny hint of hurt in her usual cold features.

“You looked good with them,” Jack changed the topic and she finally looked a little less reserved at him. She even smiled and he was almost certain that it was one of the few genuine ones she offered.

“I like them. They are great.”

“Unlike their parents which is ...”

“A miracle?” she huffed and smirked.

Jack smiled tiredly and nodded. Yet, he listened for anything against Emily that went to far in his eyes. He had already told her that she was a witch but still his little sister. He wouldn't let anyone talk shit about her!

“Shall we make dinner and then just watch a movie or something? I'm too tired for anything else,” he mumbled and kissed the top of her head.

“We could also just order something in and you tell me a bit more how you think I was right,” Grace chirped and felt him chuckle under her cheek.

Suddenly his phone rang and the customized ringtone already told him that it was the office. With a long groan he gently pushed Grace from him and moved over to the ringing phone.

“Yes?” he asked tiredly and closed his eyes when he felt a deep, drumming headache built up behind them.

Grace watched him pinch the bridge of his nose and listened to his new secretary, Michelle was her name ...maybe, he wasn't sure. He made a few murmuring sounds and ended the phone call with the promise that he would be in the office in half an hour.

“Well, that's it with the slow evening at home then,” Jack sighed when he hung up and saw that familiar cold mask on his wife's face again. Great. He was the best husband in the world.

 

* * *

 

Michelle, his new secretary after his old had taken his father's old secretary's place, was a minx. She had stunning red curls and an hourglasss figure not even Grace's could hold up to. Jack liked to let his eyes wander over her body when she was handing him some papers or brought him a cup of coffee in the middle of the day.

But as much as he liked her, calling him in now sucked. He wanted to spend his time with Grace, especially now that she had taken off her mask and it had promised to be such a light evening. But Michelle had sounded troubled at the other end of the phone and maybe he could fix it in no time.

Upon arriving in the anteroom of his office, everything was quiet and appeared normal until he heard a soft grunting from his office. With a deepening frown he slowly walked into the dark room and stopped

when he saw the source of that noise.

Michelle stood with her back towards the door on a dangerously wiggling office chair, the red soles of her highheels visible as she balanced on her toes. Jack's eyes followed the curve of her calf to the hitched hem of her tight pencil skirt, over her perfect ass where they lingered for a moment until they continued their journey over her narrow waist. Jack finally lifted his gaze up to her face and realized that she was looking at him over her shoulder. The cat-like grin in her eyes told him she had noticed him staring at what she had to offer.

“I'm really sorry, Sir, but I simply can't do it,” she said with a slight pout and looked a bit overly helpless at him.

“What can't you do?” Jack cleared his throat after his voice cracked like a 12-year old's talking to the girl he liked.

“The plans for the McMillan 27.04b plans. You put them on the highest shelf. I wanted to prepare them for tomorrow's presentation. I'm sorry, I know it's your day off and you work so hard every day, Sir.”

Her voice was like velvet in his ears and her whole being seemed to speak to his animal side. The damsel in distress, although Michelle was hardly a virgin to be saved. She knew exactly what a flutter of her eyelashes or well-placed little sigh could do to a man. And she was playing the part of the little, helpless doe for him.

Jack saw through her act but couldn't bring himself to be angry at her manipulative manner. He walked over to her and motioned her to get off the office chair, his office chair he noticed now. Michelle lay her hand on his broad shoulders to steady herself, maybe leaning into him a bit too much, letting her breasts brush his chest.

Subtle but effective. Jack could still feel them when he climbed onto the chair and reached up to retrieve the wanted files. He knew he should be angry at her and tell her that she could've asked anyone to help her with that simple task but then again …

He hated strangers in his office and if she wanted to prepare the presentation it would safe him some time in the morning. Time he could spend with Grace. So actually nothing he could be angry at her about ...especially when she looked at him the way she did now. Like he could do anything!

Jack liked the little spark of feral pride this sparked inside him. She understood how to handly an Alpha and maybe even manipulate him into doing what she wanted.

When he had retrieved the folder in question and handed it to his secretary, she made a show of thanking him for it, lingering a bit longer and brushing her finger along his before turning around and swaying her hips on her way back to her own desk.

His eyes were glued on her beautifully curved back and ass. Gosh, he needed to get home and do all the filthy things he wanted to do to his secretary with Grace. She still had one good for being right anyways so he could kill two birds with one stone. Or rather three, get rid of his current boner, stay faithfull, and mend a few rough edges with his lovely, unfortunately a bit too independent wife.

“See you tomorrow, Sir. Don't forget the business meeting in the morning,” Michelle purred when Jack left with a smug smile tugging on his lips. He stopped in his tracks and needed to pump some blood back into his head to understand what she had meant. Of course, the very important meeting that would change his whole life. Well, he had nothing to worry about if everything went out as smoothly as planned. So, he simply wished her a good day, told her he was not to be disturbed for the rest of the day and enjoyed his moaning, panting, orgasming wife underneath him until they both fell asleep completely spend in the middle of the night.

 


	30. Blame and Tears

The next day was the big day. Jack hadn't told Grace about the company memo about the announcement of his father's business successor. It was obvious that it would be him as his oldest son and one of the major stock holders of the company.

So, no wonder that Jack didn't wonder that his father hadn't spoken with him again about the topic. He had asked Michelle, if she had forgotten to give him a memo or deliver a message but she had only pursed her full lips and shook her head. With that in mind it hit Jack even harder.

“I do not intent on retiring any time soon but it's better to be save than sorry,” Jonathan started his speech with a raised glass of sparkling champagne in his hand standing in front of the council members, among them his two sons and his son-in-law, Nicolas.

Jack already received pats on his shoulder by a few other engineers and the company's PR manager before the meeting had started. Now they looked just as shocked as him when his father continued, “I have thought long and hard about who I want to give my father's lifework to and my choice fell on my son-in-law, Nicolas Caine.”

There was applause and shocked gaspes followed by nervous whispers. Nicolas stood, shook Jonathan's hand and thanked him. Jack stood before he could explode and left the conference room, buttoning up his jacket, not caring a fucking piece of shit if his father was sending a glare after him or not.

Jack drove home immediately, anger seeping out of every pore and instantly filling the house with the dangerous smell of a fuming Alpha. Grace thought hard if she should walk downstairs and find out what had happened again. She could also just stay in her realm and put the last finishing touches on the bouquet for Juliana's birthday party today. She had already called herself an Omega friendly cab and had changed into an easy but stylish outfit. So she couldn't stay up in here anyways.

Don't hide from your husband, she thought tiredly and got up from her desk. Grace slowly decended the stairs with the bouquet, placed in on the third last step of the stairs and found Jack pacing the floor in the living room, his hands clenching and unclenching in a fast rhythm.

“What happened?” Grace asked carefully from the doorway when she felt Jack's anger simmer in the air around them. She didn't want to get too close to him while still being a good wife.

“My father just announced Nicolas as his business successor!” he shouted and punched the wall behind him. “He will get the whole company while his own sons get nothing!”

Grace winced in shock and swallowed thickly. She cast her eyes down, gently purring in the silent hope to calm him like that. But it didn't work. Jack still clenched and unclenched his fists and drew in deep breaths through his nose. He didn't want to blame her for this but it was her fault! Everything that was going wrong since they had married was her fucking fault! And he couldn't keep his mouth shut, “If it weren't for you, I would still have my life and my future!”

Grace couldn't believe what he had just said. When the words completely sunk in, she blinked against the rising tears in her eyes and still didn't look up into Jack's hard face. Only when he saw her lower lip quiver, he felt sorry. Jack had come home to avoid a fight and now he had created one out of boiling anger. He closed his eyes in defeat and tried to apologize but Grace didn't want to hear it.

“Grace, I ...I didn't mean it like I said it.”

She shook her head and headed towards the door. Of course he had meant it otherwise he wouldn't have said it. She grabbed the bouquet from the stairs and her jacket and wanted to leave before Jack caught her by the upper arm.

“Where are you going?”

“Juliana's birthday party. I told you yesterday when you came home and ushered me into the bedroom,” Grace answered lowly, not trusting her voice not to break if she talked any louder than in a whisper.

Jack had completely forgotten and groaned, “Give me a minute and I'll be ready.”

“No,” she retorted sharply, “I'm going alone. It's a girl's night and I already called a cab.”

She didn't wait for his answer and left the house before she could lose the battle against her tears. The cab was just appearing on the driveway up the house and Grace sent a short prayer up to the heavens for the perfect timing. Jack watched her climb into the yellow cab and slammed the door shut when she was out of sight. FUCK!

* * *

 

Grace gave the driver Juliana's address before she broke down in tears in the backseat. The man behind the steering wheel handed her a tissue box over the back of his shoulder but didn't ask what had happened. And this time it hurt Grace that nobody, _nobody_ , cared about her. Jack had finally told what he really thought: She was the reason his life was getting out of order where she should have been an addition and not a nuisance.

She wasn't in the mood for a party and masking how bad she felt right now. She also didn't want to be the downer at Juliana's party. Grace pulled out her phone when the cab stopped in front of a red light. She texted her friend that she couldn't come because she wasn't feeling well and would lay down now, hoping that this would keep her from enquiring what was wrong.

“Forget the address I gave you,” Grace told the driver with a snivel, “please bring me to the Madison Cemetery.”

He only nodded and made a U-turn as soon as the light hit green again. Grace watched the grey city fly by the windows and stroked her fingertips over the velvety flower petals on her lap. There was only one person she wanted to see, the one she would never see again.

The headstone of her father's grave was covered in the fallen leaves of the trees surrounding it. Grace wiped her hand over the smooth, black marble and the engraved letters. She lay down the bouquet that had been meant for Juliana.

Grace's father would've held her tightly if he'd seen her right now, shaking and wiping her cheeks dry only to have fresh tears wet them again a moment later. She knelt down in front of the grave, not wasting a single thought that her pants might get dirty, and started crying into her hands. She didn't care if somebody saw her or if her behavior might be considered improper for a Hunter family member. She wasn't really one of them anyways.

Jack's words echoed through her brain, “If it weren't for you, I would still have my life ...and my future.”

Wasn't she supposed to be part of his future? Hadn't his life before she had been added into the picture already been a dance on eggshells? Or was she really the reason everything went out of his hands? Was his father punishing him for his choice of wife?

“I want to go home, Papa,” she cried, “You told me, I could always go home to you if I was unhappy with Jack. I am unhappy.”

She was only met with silence, no heavenly light shining down on her or her father's figure appearing in an ethereal shine. No, only the crows' cratching voices from the thick branches above her head. She was alone and her only choice was to go back to the man who blamed her for messing up his life. Grace cried harder until her throat was sore and her chest hurting like someone had punched her right into the sternum.

Juliana couldn't help her, she had no family left, Annabelle hadn't answered the letter she had sent her and that meant she was either dead or no longer at the address she had left her little sister, and her mother was somewhere trying to forget her past andfamily! How could her sister have forgotten about her? How could Annabelle too hadn't cared enough to not even send her a one-liner with her new address or a fucking number she could've reached her under?

Grace started shivering and got up from the wet, cold ground again. The clouds hung low and threatened to open their gates every second. Grace had turned off her phone after she had texted Juliana. Now she needed it again to call herself another Omega friendly cab to take her ...

She stopped her fingers from sliding over the illuminated screen when her head stumbled over the possible names for the house she needed to return to. It was just that; the house she had to return to, not a home, just a house no matter how much effort she put into making it cozy and warm. A place didn't make home, it was the people there and Jack was anything but _her_ home.

A fresh fit of tears burned in her eyes and clouded her vision. The name of her father on the headstone morphed into nothing but light patches on black stone. It took Grace another ten minutes before she could call a cab without fearing her voice to crack at every second syllable. She told the driver to just drive her around a bit before she looked down to her watch when it turned dark outside. 7pm. She had to return to Jack soon, so Grace gave the man behind the steering wheel her address but told him to take his time.

She had hardly closed the door behind her when Jack already appeared before her.

“Where have you been? And don't lie that you've been with Juliana. I just come from there because I wanted to drive you home but she told me that you weren't feeling well and had sent her a message,” he hissed and crossed his arms over his broad chest.

“Why do you even care?” Grace wanted to snap back but only mumbled a “I was visiting my father” instead.

Jack's face immediately relaxed. No, it didn't relax, it twisted into a almost pained expression. He let out a heavy sigh and wanted to tell her again that he hadn't meant it the way it had left his mouth. He was glad he had her but he also wanted to mend things with his father again and most of all he didn't want to lose against Nicolas. And it had all started with him telling his parents that he had found a wife and that it was her. Jack remembered his mother dropping names like Arrindell, Van Dyke and even Windsor before that fateful dinner. All friends of her were blessed with granddaughters in the right age and of the right ''breeding''but he had decided against them.

The Windsor girl hadn't even been out of school when he had met Grace for the first time. He had hated that his mother even saw the necessity to keep her ears open for a potential mate for him. He had always found his own girlfriends since he was 14 years old! Just as he was about to tell Grace how sorry he was, she had already slipped into the kitchen to reheat the leftovers from her lonely dinner.

“I'm sorry, Grace,” he said lowly and wanted to pull her into his arms but she took a step back and looked to the floor.

“I'm tired,” she only whispered and dragged her numb body up the stairs and into her realm, food already forgotten again. She closed the door behind her and cried herself to sleep that day.

 


	31. Tearing everything to pieces

The next day Grace woke with the knowledge that it couldn't stay like this. Either they seperated or he finally stood up against his family if he really, as he said, didn't mean what he had said yesterday. The house was empty by the time she eventually gathered the energy to leave her realm.

She had never been to his office before but she wanted an answer today and not trust that he would come home tonight before she was already asleep. Grace needed a clear answer. It couldn't continue that way it was now.

Half an hour later Grace frowned when she saw the already cold cappuchino on the front desk of Jack's office. The anteroom was empty and not locked. Grace frowned. Shouldn't there at least be his secretary taking calls or messages for him?

And why prepare a cup of coffee for her boss but not bring it inside before making her lunch break?, Grace thought but only shrugged and walked to the door eventually. Her fingers ghosted over the door handle of Jack's office when she suddenly heard an all too familiar sound from behind the door.

 

Jack growled deeply when he thrust into her. She made a little noise that indicated that he might have been a bit too hard but a second later Michelle already crossed her legs behind his back and pulled him deeper inside her. Jack dipped his head to suck on her neck. She wasn't Grace. Her scent was so much fainter and not as sweet, not even directly over her scent gland.

“Oh, John,” Michelle moaned and offered him more of her throat to suck on. But suddenly something made his heart clench painfully. Jack lifted his head and saw from the corner of his eye that someone stood in the opened door. And only then he realized what was squeezing his heart like it was stuck in a vice. Her utter hurt and unspeakable disappointment after walking in on them.

“Grace,” he breathed, wanting to step back from Michelle but her legs were still holding him in place.

 

Grace couldn't believe her eyes. The smell of sex, disgusting and nauseating, crawled into her nose, making breathing a constant reminder that her eyes weren't lying to her. Jack looked at her almost terrified. Of course, he hadn't expected her to finally find out about his infidelity.

She wanted to throw up in the next bin and then just disappear from this earth. She had come here to ask him for a little lunch date with the intention to talk about claiming and he fucked his secretary!

The image of him balls deep in her, her legs wrapped around his waist, his brow glistening from hot sweat, and her lipstick smudged all over both their faces etched itself into her retina. Grace would never forget the exact moment she felt her heart break, shatter to a thousand pieces in her chest, every breath feeling like walking on shards.

Hearing her name from his lips in a breathy voice felt like a slap. Hot, angry ...no, not angry, disappointed tears rose behind her eyes, burning their way out. Grace muffled a sob with her hand right before she couldn't take the sight of them bent over his desk anymore. She fled out of the office and crashed into Rick who was just on his way to Jack.

“Hey, what are you doing here, Grace? Wait, what's wrong?” he asked after seeing her tears but Grace didn't answer him, only hurried farther away from this dog she had married and had considered giving everything she was and would ever be not even five minutes ago.

 

Jack untangled himself from Michelle as soon as Grace had tried to muffle a heartbreaking sob. He saw with horror that she left, tears streaming down her cheeks. He tugged his cock back into his pants and wanted to follow her when suddenly Rick stood in the door, lifting his eyebrows when he counted one and one together. His brother's secretary half naked on his desk, the smell of sex in the air, Grace's devastated expression when she had passed him, and the caught look in Jack's eyes.

Rick clenched his teeth and shook his head with a look of utter disappointment on his face that came damn close to the one their father had given them so many times before but Jack had no time to deal with his brother's double moral standards. Jack ran after Grace and caught up with her just as the elevator was about to close right in front of his nose. He forced the doors to open again with his hand as a barrier, seeing Grace cursing the universe for not being a second faster.

“Grace, I'm so sorry,” Jack started but soon realized that no matter what he said he would never be able to make it undone. She didn't look at him when he entered the elevator and hit the button to close the doors behind him.

 

FUCK!, her internal voice screamed until it cracked. He apologized? He shouldn't have done it in the first place!

“Grace, please look at me.” He sounded almost desperate in his command. Grace could've sworn that she actually saw him flinch when she lifted her eyes to his, glaring daggers at him, tearing him to pieces in her head! He hadn't deserved to even say her name or be in the same room with her. How could he do that to her?

On the other side of her hate and disgust for him, Grace just wanted to die. Never before had she thought that there would ever be a time in her life that she would wish for death. Inside she felt like she was dying. Her guts burned with cold, white hate, her heart and lungs clenched together like they wanted to suffocate her together with the lump in her throat.

When Jack made a cautious step towards her, she glared even harder at him, daring him to touch her after those filthy hands had already touched that whore in his office.

 

“Please say something,” he begged when he saw her wince away from him. They were already halfway down to the lobby. He hadn't much time left before she would storm out and he wouldn't be able to stop her without causing a scene.

Jack saw her jaw tightening. She wanted to say something, something that would probably be an insult which he had deserved and many more. But the worst thing she could do was not saying anything. His heart was beating against the inside of his ribs, hammering against them like it wanted to jump out and land in her hands. His own heart wanted to rip itself out of his chest to present itself to her. One word and he would fire Michelle, one word.

But she remained silent.

 

She kept her lips sealed. How dare he give her those guilty puppy eyes? He wanted her to say something? A thousand words shot through her mind like bullets. Son of a bitch. Whoremonger. Cheater. Ex-husband!

Jack broke under her glare. He swallowed thickly and looked to the side right before the elevator stopped and the doors opened again. Grace wiped her cheeks dry and hurried out of the lobby, leaving Jack in the elevator, silently muttering one curse after the other.

She couldn't believe he wasn't following her. Yes, she was angry and she had every fucking right to be, and he was just letting her go? Did he really care that little about her? Had she been so wrong? She loved him, she had spend two Heats with him, had put up with his terrible sister, never lost a word about his brother and he fucked his secretary and then simply let her leave?!

 

Jack thought it better to give her space. She obviously hated him right now, with every reason, and so he gathered that he was the last person she wanted to have around her right now. He looked after her when she hurried out through the high glass doors onto the crowded streets. He made sure to see her climb into a waiting taxi before he muttered a “Fuck” and hit the button for his floor.

Rick waited for him in his office. Michelle was nowhere to be seen. Maybe better so.

“What the actual fuck, Jack?”

“I didn't plan _this_ , okay?” he replied and closed his office door behind him.

“Well, but you did _this_ and where is Grace?”

“Gone.” Jack sat down behind his desk and ran his hands over his face. Fuck! He had messed up so badly!

“What do you mean, gone?” Rick asked, turning angry and worried where he had still tried to hide it before. “Go after her, fall down on your knees in the mud and tell her you're sorry.”

“What do you think I did in that elevator? Huh? She didn't wanna hear it.”

“Can you blame her?”

Of course he didn't blame her but that didn't help him either!

“What have I done?” Jack groaned, closing his eyes and leaning as far back as his chair allowed him to.

“You hurt the one person that would've never betrayed you. No matter what. Well done, Jack.”

Rick left his brother after that and told Michelle, who had returned from the lady's room, that he as Personell manager would put on temporary leave until he had decided upon her future at Hunter Bionics. She wordlessly packed her personal things and left without once glancing over to Jack through the open office door.

He had potentially lost the most important person in his life ...for her?, he thought and cursed himself once more. She meant nothing to him and he meant nothing to her and yet, with every item she packed, his heart sank lower until he realized that he wasn't grieving about losing her but actually imagined Grace doing exactly the same at home; packing her things, preparing to leave him.

Jack called Rick when he was already on the backseat of the first cab he had seen outside the building.

“I'm going home. Please tell Dad I'm sick and lock my office. The files for the conference with Hong Kong are on Michelle's desk.”  
“Aha?”

“I'm going to fall down on my knees in the mud,” he simply said and turned off his phone. Jack didn't want work or his family to interrupt him when he tried to mend what he had smashed against the wall in his office.

 

“24 Dollar, please,” the taxi driver ordered and looked in his rear view mirror. Good thing people didn't care about each other anymore, Grace thought when she pulled out a 20-Dollar-bill. She had cried the entire way home and he hadn't asked her once what had happened.

Her fucking life as she knew it had just ended, she would've propably snapped at the innocent driver before bursting out into new tears. She left the taxi and slammed the door into the lock as soon as she was inside.

Grace's whole body hurt, not just her heart and her throat, but her head was throbbing, her hands she had curled into tight fists on the ride home showed deep indents from her fingernails, her jaw hurt from clenching her teeth together tightly in the elevator.

She just wanted to go home … but also feel home if that made any sense. True her marriage hadn't been perfect but it had still been the one constant thing in Grace's life. No matter if her father died or if Cate started having her Heats, she would still be Jack's wife.

But no, she wasn't anymore. She was just the stupid woman he had fooled into believing that she'd meant something to him. Grace shortly asked herself how long he had already slept with that whore. Maybe not his secretary but she was _the other woman_ here? What if Jack loved that woman and had only married her because his family had pressured him into finding a suitable Omega?

No, Grace thought and shook her head to convince herself, he had told her about the fake marriage of Rick, at least then he would've told her if he was faking the marriage with her too. Or had he thought her too fragile to cope with the fact?

Grace's head was spinning. She needed rest and a place that didn't smell of that bastard. Her private realm once again served as her sanctuary with the untouchable door. She loaded her arms with food and bottles of water, kicked the door close behind her, and lay down on the padded windowsill staring outside. Silent tears ran down her temples as she watched the wind gently weave through the orange-red tree tops, causing some of the colorful leaves to slowly sink to the ground.

It wasn't much later when she heard familiar steps in front of her door. Now the promise he had given her about the meaning of this door was put to a test. Would he simply ignore that fact that it was closed on purpose and come in? Would he at least knock?

No, Jack didn't do any of it. There were more steps, getting more quiet the farther he moved away from the door. She heard the door of his office open but not close. So he would hear her as soon as she left the room to get to the toilet or to bed.

“Oh, no,” she sighed and closed her eyes. She would smell him all over the bed sheets and he would surely try to talk to her again.

Oh God, only a few days ago they had rolled around in the sheets, fucking through her Heat and he had been perfect during her PostHeat this time. Why if he was going to cheat on her only two days later? Today? A new flood of fresh tears choked her to the extent of physical pain.

 

Jack had promised her that he would only ever disturb her in her realm if the house was on fire. It wasn't and she had consciously closed the door to keep him out. He couldn't blame her, if he could, he would lock himself out as well. But he hadn't had that luxury.

Jack wanted to give her time, knowing that she must've heard him come home and if not than at least she would know he was back as soon as she left her room and smelled his scent.

The only thing he could do to distract himself from his own weakness and stupidity was work. He sat behind his desk on his home office and stared at the black screen of his laptop for an hour before he even realized that he hadn't turned it on yet. His thoughts circled around the look in Grace's eyes when she had seen them.

Oh God, he thought and felt hot shame creep up his neck as he buried his face in his hands.

 


	32. These eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a super short chapter but I won't be taking too long to upload the next one, promised!

Hours after the sun had set, Grace finally came to a conclusion. She couldn't stay here in this house, his house, a second longer. She had the burning desire to pour boilíng hot water over Jack while simultaniously never wanting to see his face again, not even for another fight or to show him how hurt she was.

Instead she would let someone else tell him what he had done to her. Grace knew she had an old record from her sister's collection that fit perfectly. Maybe it was a bit cheesy but who would judge her? His family? Let them! They were all a bunch of self-centered liars not deserving any ''appropriate response'' from her because there golden boy had driven an axe into her fucking heart!

She had always been a slut for everything that had happened around the 1970s and finally her sentimentality could help Grace. She placed the record of The Guess Who on the turntable and placed the needle as close to the middle as possible. She left a small note on the vinyl and turned her record player on.

Jack's ears were good enough that he would eventually pick up on the sound and find her ''breakup note'' when she was already somewhere he would hopefully never find her. Somewhere she would hopefully find the one part of her shattered family who knew what it felt like to hate their mate, Annabelle. She still hadn't completely lost hope to find her. She had to be somewhere. Otherwise someone would've informed her family about her death. No Omega could ever really vanish from this earth.

Grace packed her bag in a haze, tears blinding her, a lump in her throat trying to choke the life out of her with every thudding heartbeat. She didn't even pay attention to what she was shoving inside her travelling bag. The only things she really needed were the keys to the car, maybe her passport and enough money from the safe so that she wouldn't be short on resources for at least a few months. So even if she didn't find Annabelle, and she had to count in that possibility, she would still be independent.

Grace couldn't breathe when she eventually sat behind the steering wheel of Jack's car. She knew how to drive and he wouldn't notice it's disappearance. Grace thanked every heavenly power that her father had taught her how to drive when she had returned from Woodlark.

It was still dark outside, the sun wouldn't be up for another hour and Jack neither. Enough time to drive to the airport and leave the country but she didn't know anyone outside of Flint. Wait, she knew one person, Annabelle. But was she still there? She hadn't heard anything from her in seven years.

Grace ripped off her watch and roughly opened its back, breaking two fingernails in the process of it, but who cares? She knew the address by heart but she still wanted to be sure she entered it correctly into the navigation device. And off she was. The fuel tank was filled to the brink and hopefully it would be enough to make the distance to her sister.

The sun came up in her back as she drove westwards, Grace broke down in tears every 100 miles or so. She pulled over and cried into her hands, leaning against the steering wheel. Other times she lashed out and kicked around herself, screaming out her boiling anger until she had finally made it to the address.

 

* * *

 

At the same time, Jack eventually woke up, his back killing him and setting him in a foul mood right from the beginning. He passed her room on his way into the bathroom and bedroom to get dressed. The door was left ajar but he still wanted to give her time. Maybe when she smelled that he made them breakfast, she would come downstairs on her own and then he could try and talk to her. Apologize to her on his knees, begging her for another chance.

But nothing happened. The only thing that came from upstairs was the noise of the record player in her private realm, thudding silently but stealing his last nerve by now. This needed to stop! She did it on purpose to wear him out or punish him with this tactic. Why couldn't she just shout at him or throw knives his way?!

Jack went upstairs, taking two steps at a time, and bursted through the cracked door. “Turn tha-”

He shut himself off when he saw that the room was empty. The needle of the record player was the only sound in the room, etching itself into Jack's brain when he tried to comprehend this whole situation. He knew Grace wasn't in the bedroom or in the bathroom, she wasn't downstairs and not in the garden. That only left one option: She was... gone.

Slowly, Jack sank down on the padded windowsill next to the record player. His wife had left him. His Grace had left _him_. A strange mixture of relief, anger, and hurt washed over Jack. It wasn't like he thought that he was free from her now and could start a life with Michelle, no, it was more that he could breathe through for the first time since they had married. He could return to how it had been before her. Sure, his father would probably disown him but Jack was finally able to make decisions without having to contemplate what was best for _them_ and not just for him.

But she had just left him. No chance for him to explain his actions, tell her what had driven him to that stupid act. Why had she even been at the office? Grace had never visited him there and yesterday of all days she had to burst into his office and catch him in flagranti.

Jack could've smashed his head against the wall for what he had done. He would probably never forget the look in her eyes, this utter disappointment that had raked through her like a train cutting through the landscape. Those eyes that had looked at him with such shock and hurt that only thinking of it made his stomach turn and flip upside down. Jack leaned forward and covered his face with his hands when he felt hot shame creep up his neck.

The thudding of the needle next to him was slowly crawling back into his conscience. He was alone, Jack suddenly thought and sat up straight again. He was completely alone and he couldn't tell anyone his wife had left him. Fuck! His father wouldn't just scratch him out of his will, he would kick him out of the business, out of the family. He would lose everything and everyone! And all just because he couldn't have stayed faithful to his wife.

He couldn't take the sound of the record player anymore and wanted to throw the damn thing against the next wall, when he saw a piece of paper attached to the slowly spinning black vinyl under the glass top. Jack frowned and turned the turntable off to read the message. She had left him only four words: _Listen to the lyrics_.

Jack didn't know the band, nor this particular record. It was the only message she had left him with it seemed and so he decided to give it a try. With a few fiddling motioned he had managed to place the needle into the sound track and listened closely to the late 60's sound that left the speakers now.

 

_“These eyes cry every night for you_  
_These arms long to hold you again_  
_The hurtin's on me, yeah_  
_But I will never be free, no, my baby, no, no_  
_You gave a promise to me, yeah_  
_And you broke it, you broke it, oh, no “_

 

Jack closed his eyes in shame.

“I swear to be a good husband and guarding mate to you, and a loving father to our children until death ends this bond,” he cited his wedding vow and hung his head low. How could he have been such an idiot?

 

_“These eyes watched you bring my world to an end_  
_This heart could not accept and pretend_  
_The hurtin's on me, yeah_  
_But I will never be free, no, no, no_  
_You took the vow with me, yeah_  
_And you spoke it, you spoke it, babe “_

 

His heart started racing. Where was Grace? He needed to get her back here and if only so that they could talk, to file a divorce together if he had really jeopardized their marriage to the point that they couldn't mend it again. At least then he would know where she was, that she was safe.

An unbonded and unclaimed Omega running around without anyone to protect her? She would be shredded to pieces if she fell into the hands of the wrong people. But where could she be? Her father was dead, she didn't seem like she would voluntarily return to her mother ever again and who was left after that?

Maybe Juliana. They were best friends. But Jack didn't want to call anyone. A missing Omega made national news and he couldn't risk to let anyone know that Grace was no longer with him.

She will come back, he told himself. She simply had to!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwZasIDcByo Link to the cited song. I stumbled across it and it fit JUST PERFECTLY!


	33. "That's all?"

At the same time, Grace finally reached her destination. Annabelle's home. A grand estate somewhere in the woods with security cameras monitoring every inch of the wall surrounding the property.

Grace parked the car in front of the high gate and approached something that looked like an intercom attached to the wall. Her breath was hitched from her sobs but she still managed to tell the male voice that had answered her ringing her name and that she was Annabelle's sister. After a few seconds the gate buzzed open and she could drive up to the house by the end of the driveway.

A lean woman in a long hippie dress and three men stood by the entrance door and watched the car coming closer. None of them looked too friendly, not even … Annabelle?

Grace almost didn't recognize her but it was her, the same long blond hair and the same warrior look on her face. She left the car and stared at the people who looked down at her with arched eyebrows and scrutinizing glares. Grace almost wanted to run back home ...but where was home? Her only relative she had left was her sister and she didn't look too happy to see her.

“You are not my sister,” the woman sneered and turned around to go back inside.

“I missed you at the funeral,” Grace said quickly. “I think Mum expected you to come too.”

She returned with an incredulous huff. “You should've done your homework better, honey. My mother told me in the face that I was dead for her.”

“Right after you buried your husband and ran away with him,” Grace nodded over to the only man who didn't had his arms crossed over his chest. “Your husband's doctor.”

Annabelle looked Grace up and down before she narrowed her eyes and chewed the inside of her cheek.

“What was the name of our dog in the childhood.”

“We didn't have one. Mum is afraid of them.”

“We had one,” Annabelle replied and walked down the stairs, closer to Grace. She needed to think for a moment before she closed her eyes and huffed a sad laugh.

“Hoolahoop,” she answered and looked up at Annabelle's stone face. “we called our imaginary dog Hoolahoop, imagining that he would always spin in circles when he was happy.”

The memory of happier times without the thudding pain in her chest and with their father still alive and well, brought tears back in her eyes, only this time Annabelle enclosed her into her arms and purred for her. That's when Grace finally knew that she recognized her as her little sister. She had a place to heal, she had at least one part of her family back.

“I missed you, Gracey,” Annabelle whispered into her ear and sounded like she was close to tears herself. It had been years since they had last seen each other. Seven long years! Grace had been 14 at her sister's wedding, getting extraordinare leave from Woodlark to be able to attend the Uncollaring Ceremony.

Grace had only heard about the death of her brother-in-law, Harrison Carlyle, her affair with his doctor, Dr Thomas Hamilton, and their disappearance soon after the funeral. It was a giant scandal because Annabelle and her husband hadn't been mates. She was an unclaimed widow with 67 Mio Dollar in her bank account.

Annabelle brought her crying sister into the house and sat her down in the living room. Two dogs watched them from another couch with their noses reaching out to smell who the new person in their home was.

“What happened?”

“I ...I-” Grace couldn't answer without bursting out into tears and pressing her face into Annabelle's chest. There was no way she could explain her what Jack had done to her, at least not until she wasn't calm again.

 

It wasn't until two hours later that Grace was able to articulate what had driven her to come here.

“You know I'm married?”

“Yes, one of the Hunter-offsprings. Read it in the papers.”

“Jack, the oldest,” Grace sniffled and dried her cheeks with the back of her hands.

“And he …?”

Annabelle checked the little skin, she could see for bruises or other signs of physical abuse. There were none but Grace was also dresses in a high-necked sweater and thick tights she couldn't see through.

“Will she stay?” they suddenly heard from the door. A dark-skinned man with arched eyebrows looked at Grace for an answer. Annabelle nodded and asked him to leave them alone again.

“Did he hurt you, Gracey?” she asked again and this time managed to say the words out loud. She didn't want to even think about something like that. Her little sister wasn't supposed to suffer from an abusive Alpha like she had before that asshole had finally died from a god-send heart attack. She could still feel her heart beat faster by the thought of his hand around his belt.

“Not physically,” Grace replied and looked down to her hands on her lap, “he cheated on me with his secretary. I caught them yesterday.”

Annabelle bit her tongue but not hard enough for the following words to escape, “That's all?”

Grace lifted her head and stared at her older sister like she had just told her that it had been her fault. She stood up and paced the floor in front of the couch.

“Other than you I value fidelity and would never sleep with another man than my own. And I definitely expected him to be faithful as well!”

“Are you here to judge me?” Annabelle snapped and stood up as well, “in that case, you ca-”

“No, Annabelle, I'm here because I didn't know where else to go! I don't have anyone left but you. Dad is dead, Mum is ..who knows where, and Juliana is too occupied with her children and I don't want to burden her!” Grace screamed back and sunk back down on the couch again, shaking from her heavy sobs.

Annabelle scooped over next to her and hugged her tightly.

“Remember what Dad used to do when we were sad?” she suddenly asked and waited for Grace's reaction. She didn't have to wait too long. First it was only quiet but as the memories flooded back Grace's laughs grew louder. Albert had always found the perfect things to direct his little girls' minds off of sadness and gloominess.

“Do you remember that after grandmama died we had this huge waterbomb fight in the living room and Mum almost lost it until Dad gave her a waterbomb too and she threw it right into his face?” Annabelle laughed and Grace nodded.

“Or the weekend before I went to Woodlark and he rented a pony and bought finger colour? I have never seen a more colorful pony in my life!”

“We were all very colourful that day,” Grace reminded her and another laugh bursted out of the sisters. Her father had always been perfect. Had been. Grace laughter suddenly died down again when reality struck her over the head again. He was gone, all the funny things he might have done with his grandchildren would never be done. New tears started to swell in her eyes and Annabelle wrapped her back in her arms. This time she was crying too.

They stayed like this for a couple of minutes until they got a little visitor. A small girl with dark blonde hair and a chubby face entered the room. She was about 6 years old and looked exactly like Annabelle had looked like as a child. Grace stared at the girl wide eyed. Was this Annabelle's child? She had a daughter?

Annabelle pulled the girl on her lap and nuzzled her cheek before placing a couple of small kisses on the tender skin of the girl.

“You have a daughter?” Grace whispered silently.

Annabelle nodded with a proud smile and spoke with the girl: “Holly, this is my little sister and your aunt, Grace.”

Holly climbed off her mother's lap and walked over to Grace to hug her tightly. It was clear that she was an Omega. Even as a child the scent was present, if only faintly until puberty would hit full force.

“Grace will probably stay here with us for a little while.”

Holly's face lit up and she started screaming out of pure, childish joy. Grace was completely flabbergasted. Why should a child be so happy about a stranger living with them? This wasn't normal, right? But before Grace could ask any questions, Holly ran out of the room again, still screaming from the top of her lungs, and almost bumped into another man who Grace didn't know. He had sharp features and dark eyes that somehow seemed shifty to her.

“Why is the little monster screaming like a slaughtered pig again?” he asked and earned himself a little glare from Annabelle. He didn't seem to be Holly's father judging by the way he was talking about her.

“Grace is going to stay here for a while, Henry. Can you tell the others? I'm gonna show her to her room.”

“Alright, hopefully today's cook has enough ingredients for another mouth to feed.”

“I'm not hungry,” Grace said quietly, but was simply ignored.  
“I'm damn sure that we will have enough food for another family member. She's my little sister. What did you want anyways?”

“I want you to get the dogs out of the house. You know I don't want them inside.”

Annabelle rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed groan. This didn't seem to be the first time they had had this conversation.

“Talk to Tom, they're his and I don't mind them around me and the kids.”

Kids? Multiple? Grace stared at her sister. She had lived a whole life without ever informing their parents that they had grandchildren or her that she was an aunt. Why not? She had been at Woodlark when the whole thing with Annabelle's husband had happened so why was she punishing her as well as everyone who had ever loved her?

Suddenly Grace asked herself if she was really as welcome as her sister claimed.

The dinner was torturous. Holly was the oldest child who seemed to be Tom's daughter, then came fraternal twins, Peter and Charlotte, who were Ben's children who was also an Alpha like Tom was. They didn't seem to get along too well judging by the glares they occasionally sent each other over the table. And then there was Henry's child, a new born son named Eli.

Needless to say that the rivalry between the fathers also showed in the children. The twins kept giggling about Holly who was sticking out her tongue at them and moaned at one point that the baby would be stinky, which he was to be fair. Annabelle seemed to be completely oblivious to the chaos surrounding her but it was too much for Grace. She apologized hastily and hurried up into her room, slamming the door shut behind her and muffling her cries with her pillow.

She should be home with her husband, sit on the couch and watch stupid tv, instead she was alone in a terrible fun house with strangers -one of them being her own sister- and with absolutely no one to talk to. Her chest felt tight and almost as if it was going to impolde. She cried herself to sleep that night, curled up in a tight ball in this foreign environment, almost hoping she would wake up tomorrow morning and find herself 8 months back when her marriage had still been fresh and her life still in order.

 


	34. Mumblebee, Shimmy, and Cazoo

On the second day of her stay Grace recognized the looks her way. Henry and Ben were both checking her out over the breakfast table while Tom didn't even sit down before he was out of the dining room again. It was pretty obvious that he tried to avoid being close to the others as best as he could.

Grace tried to ignore the men as long as possible until they actually spoke to her over lunch. She couldn't ignore them now, she thought, she couldn't be so impolite.

“So, you're married, Annybelle said”, Ben asked and let his eyes wonder over her upper body. Grace was almost certain he imagined her naked form underneath. She made a disgusted face before she crossed her arms over her chest.

“I am.”

“And didn't he ride you well enough? You seem like a fiery mare,” Henry continued and wiggled his eyebrows, “I mean, something like that runs in the family and judging by your sister-”  
Annabelle cleared her throat loudly when she entered the room, holding Eli to her exposed breast. It was already too much for Grace again and she fled the constricting walls and disgusting men inside.

Grace couldn't stomach the stupid jokes from Henry or the disgusting looks from Ben anymore. She excused herself after she had managed to remain silent and calm for two meals full of harrassment, and rescued herself outside to catch some fresh air. But not even here she was alone.

The rhythmic sound of metal hitting wood and wood falling to the grassy ground lured her into going around the house until she saw Tom chocking a few woodblocks to create fodder for the fireplaces of the house. His three dogs were weasling around him. The biggest, black one lay on top of the steps of the veranda, slowly wacking his tail when she cautiously stepped closer. The middle black one was hunting mice or moals on the meadow and the smallest, white and brown one was chewing a tiny piece of wood, laying pretty close to his master.

“Can I help you?” Tom wanted to know, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand and catching his breath. The smell of his scent was turning Grace on, involuntarily. She hated her biology so much, especially in this house being surrounded by two strange Alphas, a Beta male, and so many children.

“I just wanted to get away from the others for a bit. Do you mind if I stay here, just for a minute or two?”

Oh, please don't say no, she plead inwardly and God or whoever heard her.

“Of course not. Annabelle already told you that you can go wherever you like. That includes outside and right here as well.”

Grace pulled her cardigan closer around her middle and sat down next to the big, totally relaxed dog. She let him sniff at her hand before he made a moaning sound, rolled on his other side and practically pressed his back against her leg. She weaved her fingers into his thick, warm fur and started petting him while watching the other dogs and his owner.

“Annabelle told me you were never allowed to have dogs as children,” Tom said after a while.

“No, our mother was allergic to them.”

“Do you have one with your husband?” Grace didn't want to talk about Jack if it wasn't absolutely necessary. But she answered with a sigh that he hadn't been too keen on the idea to have something potentially threatening around a baby, although he had dragged her to her doctor to set her on birth control the first day of their marriage.

Tom shook his head when she had finished talking. “Dogs aren't dangerous for children. Not even the ''dangerous breeds''. It's never the dog's fault if he reacts wrongly. It's always on the owner. You see Cazoo back there? He's hunting for mice because his biology is telling him that it's prey. I let him chase a few rats and if he's successful, he's allowed to eat his prize. If I wouldn't let him follow his nature he would start getting stupid and potentially dangerous ideas.”

“Cazoo,” Grace repeated, trying to remember the name for the time she might need it.

“Actually his name is Kaiser but Charlotte couldn't pronouce it correctly and so he was slowly renamed to Cazoo. It's the same with Shimmy.” He nooded to the small dog that was cautiously looking up at Tom by the mention of his name. If he was going to try and take away the piece of wood he was working on at the moment he would run with it like the devil was chasing him.

“Let me guess,” Grace cut in, “He's actually Jimmy.”

“Yes, named after Jim Morrison. My mum had been a huge fan of The Doors. When I was a child their records played every day in our house. I got him a year after my mom's death so I thought it a nice sentimental gesture.”

“It is. That way she's connected to the present somehow.” Grace looked down to the most relaxed dog she had ever seen. The dog next to her looked like he was just about to fall asleep when Tom brought down the axe to split another wooden block in two. “And what about him?”

“His name is Mumblebee,” Tom told her with a kind smile. She couldn't call it anything else but kind. He put the axe away and through the smaller wooden pieces into a big metal bucket in which he would bring them inside. But not yet. He was keeping his distance from Grace, probably knowing what the sweat of an Alpha could do to an unclaimed Omega.

“Did one of the kids come up with the name, too?”

“No,” he laughed shortly and lifted his finger to get the dog's attention, “Mumblebee, talk.”

The dog sat up and Grace expected him to bark but he actually mumbled, causing her to genuinely smile for the first time that she was here.

“That's hilarious,” she giggled.

“Yeah, he's a clown.” Tom scanned her for a moment and his eyes lost their kind shine, only to be replaced with a compassionate expression. “You can borrow him whenever you want. He's good with broken hearts.”

He gave her a sad smile and left. Grace wasn't sure what to make of this last sentence. Had he had his heart broken? The kids were too young to have been in love, even for a little sandbox love. Maybe it was Tom's heart that had been broken, but by whom? Annabelle? A woman before her sister?

* * *

 

At the same time, hundreds of miles away back “home”, Jack sat in his living room with Rick opposite of him.

“And you really have no idea where she might have gone? What about her friends?”

“She only really has one and her mother would've made her call me. She was the eager one closing the deal of our marriage in the first place,” Jack answered and groaned lowly. He felt lost. Two days without her and he was already close to a mental breakdown. It wasn't just that he finally realized what she did for him every morning when he was still upstairs taking a shower but also that he was so worried that she might be injuried or ...dead already.

“Fuck,” Jack murmured and hid his face behind his hands.

“Fuck is probably the right expression.”

Jack glared at his little brother who only arched and eyebrow. “What?”

“Is that all you have to say about this?”

“What am I supposed to say? You had a devoted, beautiful wife who even put up with Emily without complaining and you had nothing better to do than to cheat on her with the office slut.”

“I KNOW, Rick! I don't need you to tell me my mistakes because I was there when I made them! What am I supposed to do to get her back?”

“Well,” Rick let out a deep breath and scratched the mid-day stubble on his jaw, “to get her back you would first have to find out where she is now.”

“Thank you, sherlock.”

Rick glared at him for his snappy comment. As if he had done something wrong. “Think!”

Jack leaned his head back against the back rest of his arm chair. She wasn't at her parents' old house. He had checked there first thing after realizing that she wouldn't come back any time soon. What was left then? Her best friend? Maybe her sister?

He didn't want anyone outside this room to know that she was gone. Grace was in grave danger but would be in even greater if the public found out that an Omega was somewhere without protection. People would start hunting for her to take her. It was such an incredible priviledge to be an Omega's husband and protector and he couldn't do the latter because he had failed the former.

“Do you really don't want to call the police?”

“And risk that the press gets wind from it? Dad would kill me.”

“So you rather risk that she'll be killed because you waited too long?”

God, he was such a terrible person. Without wasting another second, Jack grabbed the phone and tried calling Juliana.

“Hey, it's Jack Hunter, I was wondering if my wife is with you,” he spoke into the speaker after th dial tone had suddenly stopped. Juliana made a musing noise and answered that she had last seen her a couple of weeks ago and had already wondered where she was.

“She has a lot of things going on in her mind. I wasn't sure if she remembered our dinner meeting today and she forgot her phone here.”

He hung up after promising Juliana that he would tell Grace that she should call her some time soon.

Rick watched his older brother and noticed for the first time that he was sporting deep, dark rings under his eyes. It didn't seem like he had slept since Grace had left him.

“Any other idea where she might be?”

“She has an aliented sister somewhere upstate. They haven't talked in years as much as I've heard.”

“Do you know the address?”

No, he had read it only once and that had been with anger pumping through his veins, not to mention months ago.

“Do you remember the name of your sister-in-law?” Rick tried again.

“Annabelle or Annabella … ehm.”

Rick let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. “Fuck, Jack, if I were your wife, I would've left you months ago if you are really this attentive. A goldfish would be a better husband than you are. I'll see if I can find out something about her sister and email you everything I can find. You just keep out of Dad's sight. He'll rip your head off if he finds out what you did.”

With that Rick stood and left his brother alone. It was disgustingly silent around the house with Grace gone. Jack let his eyes wander around the living room. The kitchen was a mess with half eaten breakfast and towers of dirty dishes already, there was a blanket and pillows on the couch because he couldn't bear lying in their bed right now with her scent still lingering in everything, and the plants and flowers she had taken care of were slowly turning brown and dry.

Everything around him was dying because she was gone. And in the mids of his guts he didn't only find fear of what would happen if his father found out about her disappearance but also the shear white panic that he might never see her again. And it was all his fault, no one else to blame.

 


	35. Distraction

Jack read over the letter in his hands one last time before he started the car. He was so grateful that Rick had found her sister's address and it had sounded very familiar to him. Jack had asked for a phone number, only to find out that they seemingly didn't have a phone. The only possibility to find out if Grace was there or not.

That's how he found himself sitting in his car on his way upstate with a churning in his stomach and the fluttering hope that he would find Grace there. The last two nights he hadn't slept, the overwhelming worry that she might be hurt or... dead. God, he didn't even want to think about this possibility. His knuckles turned white as he closed his hands tightly around th steering wheel.

She couldn't be dead. He couldn't lose her without ever having the chance to see her face again, hear her voice. He didn't even care if she would shout at him and tell him to go to hell, he simply wanted to see her alive again.

After hours of worrying and chewing his cheeks bloody, Jack finally reached his destination in the middle of nowhere. The estate looked like some retired celebrity was living here who had seen enough of the world and now only craved peace and quiet. Although the noises of playing, screeching children told him his was wrong.

Jack rang the bell and waited for someone to answer when he suddenly smelled a whiff of Grace's scent in the autumn air. That must mean that she was here, right? Hope blossomed in Jack's chest. If they didn't open the gates, he would climb over them. His wife was here and he would talk to her! He was happy to file a divorce with her but Jack needed to know that Grace was alive and fine.

The intercom buzzed to life and a deep, male voice answered.

“Who's there?”

“My name is Jonathan Hunter. I'm here to see my wife, Grace Chasseur-Hunter?”

Silence. Crackling noises. Panic.

“I know that she's here. Please, I just want to see her,” Jack tried again, sounding patheticly desperate in his own ears. But the need to see her was too big.

Again he was met with silence from the speaker until a few seconds later the gate opened. Jack almost stumbled over his own feet to get back into his car and drive up the gravel path to the house.

In the meantime, Grace had heard from Annabelle about his arrival and wasn't sure how to react. She was still in the mood for hiding and scratching out his eyes but she also somehow longed to see him again. It was foolish and she was sure it had nothing to do with “love” or anything like that. It was merely the fact that she could return into her little realm, away from loud, crying children, a stranger who looked like her sister, and men that only saw her as a sex object.

At least she would have silence around her and his scent... God, she really missed his scent. Grace shook her head when she felt herself slip into actually contemplating going back to Jack even though the possibility of actually seeing him made her feel sick.

Grace followed her sister downstairs and hid behind the door when she heard the tired scrunch over the gravel of the driveway. She closed her eyes and held a hand over her mouth to keep herself from making any sounds when his scent suddenly filled the air. How dare her do this to her and then torture her with his familiar presence when all she wanted was … what did she want?

Grace sensed someone next to her and looked down to find Mumblebee right in front of her, his heavy tail wagging in a calm rhythm.

Outside, only the width of a door separated them, she suddenly heard his voice.

“Where is my wife?”

“Any you are?” Annabelle retorted with a bitchy tone. She wouldn't let him enter the house and none of her men would allow it either.

Jack sighed, “My name is Jonathan Hunter. I'm you sister Grace's husband. I know she's here. Can I please speak with her. We need to sort a few things out.”

“I think you must be mistaken. If there was anyone here who wanted to speak with you, this person would've already come forward. But as you can see your “wife” isn't here.”

Jack had enough of his farce. “I can smell you, Grace! Please give me at least the chance to speak with you! I know I made a mista-!”

“Maybe you should've thought about that before you cheated on her,” Tom interrupted him sharply and stepped towards Jack. Both men were boiling underneath. How dare he come here after what he did to his wife?!

Jack looked the man in front of him up and down. He was obviously an Alpha like himself and he immediately hated him. Just the thought that his wife was around another Alpha made him furious.

“Where is my wife?”

“Here, safe from you.”

“I never harmed her.”

“Yes you did. When you decided to cheat on her. You don't deserve her,” Tom hissed and moved forward, causing Jack to step back until his calves hit his car.

“And you think you do? Who the fuck are you anyway? If I find out you only as much as touched her, I will make you regret it.”

“Same rules for everyone,” Annabelle called and crossed her arms over her chest, “If my sister wants to fuck around, she will, like you did. And now leave before I call the cops to get you off my property.”

That were her last words before she turned around and walked back into the house, followed by Ben and Henry as her bodyguards. Tom would make sure Jack actually left.

Jack grinded his teeth and reached into his jacket to pull out the letter he had written for Grace in case he would actually end up right where he was now.

“Would you give this to her? She can decide to read it or not, but please hand her the letter,” he asked Tom who at first only lifted an eyebrow but eventually took the envelope from Jack's hand. With one last look towards the house, Jack turned around and sat down behind the steering wheel. He felt like he hadn't done enough. He knew she was there and he knew he had better chances to win her back if he spoke to her in person but with three bodyguards and a snappy sister they probably wouldn't have a single second alone to discuss their future, together or seperately.

With a heavy heart he started the car and drove back home.

Tom looked after him with a deep frown and the thick letter in his hand. Should be deliver it or simply burn. No, it should be Grace's decision what she wanted to do with it. He slid the envelope into his back pocket and returned into the house to search for Grace. He didn't have to search for too long. She sat in the entrance hall behind the door with her arms around Mumblebee, pressing her face into his fur to muffle her sobs.

“Is he gone again?” she asked between hiccups when Tom lay his hand on her shoulder.

“Yes, but he left this for you.”

Grace stared at the envelope in front of her like it was some kind of venomous snake. Her hand itched to take it but she was too afraid of what she might find inside it. After a long moment she gave in and took the heavy letter. Unless it was the divorce papers he must've really sat down to write her an impressive amount of pages.

Grace couldn't say if she wanted to read them or not. He had broken her heart and distroyed her trust in him and now he even invaded her sister's space. Although she had to give him that she had actually not expected him to remember Annabelle's address. Maybe he did care? Maybe he wanted to be a better, more attentive husband now that he knew what it was like without her?

But he shouldn't have cheated on her! He should've known what a good wife she had been for him! She had never acted anything but perfect around anyone! She hadn't even told him about his slimy brother-in-law and what he had tried! No, she was still angry at Jack because he had had absolutely no reason to cheat on her when she had not once said no to any of his wishes.

Tom helped her up and let go of her arm as soon as she stood. He didn't want to touch her more than absolutely necessary. “Do you wanna go upstairs and be alone for a while?”

“No, I think the last thing I should be is alone right now. My head is too full with all kinds of thoughts. I think I need some distraction.”

“Well, if you have one thing in his house it's distraction,” he said and offered her a friendly smile.

“Let's go for a walk,” Annabelle suggested with a wide smile on her face when she saw Tom and Grace enter the living room.

“But it's cold outside,” Henry said with a snarl and looked outside the window. He hated the cold and the rain. And especially the mud it caused on the “foresty” part of the estate.

“Then put on thicker clothes,” she argued while Ben was already heading for the kids rooms to get the twins ready. It was already decided that the whole group would walk a small round over the estate. Grace had no say in this and because she really didn't want to be alone, she had to go with them.

She climbed the stairs to her room, the letter in a tight grip in front of her. She would read it tomorrow, she thought and nodded at herself. Yes, tomorrow she would be ready to read it and know what her husband wants her to know. For a second Grace feared that he would want a divorce and be with this whore. She couldn't imagine the scandal it would cause and she would be alone.

Alone. The thought frightened her. She was an Omega, it was in her genes to take care of a family and her upbringing had only hardened that streak in her personality. She wouldn't be able to survive completely alone and she couldn't walk around like a Beta because her scent would attract too much attention. She was busted if Jack wanted a divorce because Grace knew right away that she could never stay here in this house. Never.

* * *

 

When the whole family was ready to go for a walk, Grace noticed that Tom was walking a few yards in front of the group. Mumblebee was by his side while the other dogs stalked through the undergrowth at the sides of the path. She liked him the most of Annabelle's men. He was the oldest, smartest, nicest. And he seemed the most decent because he didn't try anything on her like Ben or had made stupid jokes about her like Henry.

Suddenly a sharp scream from one of the children cut through the quiet conversation that Ben and Henry were having. Tom stopped immediately and turned around alarmed. Holly kneeled on the muddy ground and just started crying. Behind her stood Peter with an angry look on his chubby face. Tom shot over to his daughter and checked her hands and knees for eventual injuries. Annabelle was scolding her son not to be mean to his older sister but the boy only stuck out his tongue and Ben growled at him right as Tom glared at the little kid. It was a dangerous glare of an Alpha who wanted to protect his cub.

Annabelle positioned herself between Tom and Ben when they both picked up their children.

“Why did you shove her?” Ben asked his son who only shrugged and mumbled something about being a boy while Charlotte started screaming, a long high-pitched scream, because her brother was on their father's arm and she wasn't.

It was all too loud for Grace, too much going on and too much fuss, and so she walked a bit faster, catching up with Tom without really meaning to. She only wanted to get to a more peaceful spot.

“He's stupid,” Holly just mumbled when Grace was next to them, and snuggled into her father's chest. Obviously Tom had asked her the same question Ben had asked Peter.

“Is she alright?”

Tom looked at Grace like she was talking Urdu. “Yes, just a bit of mud but that's what children are covered in 80% of the time. Nothing a bath wouldn't fix.”

“Daddy, pine cones!” Holly suddenly screamed and bobbed up and down in his arms. Tom let her down again and watched her closely as she ran ahead and started picking up cones from the ground.

“There, everything over again.”

“I envy them. Being able to forget so fast and simply be happy again,” Grace said quielty and shook her head with a forced smile, “Sorry, I'm bringing everyone down.”

“No, you don't. You have every reason to feel betrayed and sad, and everyone who can't take it can just shut their mouth and keep their distance,” he growled and she could see that he tried not to glare over his shoulder to Henry and Ben.

“So, like you do?”

Tom turned his head around to her quickly, his dark blond eyebrows knit together in confusion.

“You are never with the others,” Grace answered his silent question, “Always walking a bit ahead when we take a walk or you sit in another room, work outside the house, etc.”

“Maybe it's just a coincidence.” His tone was giving away that it was a lie. He did it on purpose and Grace already had a suspicion as to why he was doing it. Annabelle had been with him first after her husband's death. Ben and Henry had joined their shared life only a few years later. Maybe the Alpha had lost his top position in the pack and wasn't taking it well?

Holly ran over to her father and proudly held up a giant pine cone. “Please, carry it for me, Daddy.”

“Of course, sweety.”

And off she was again. Mumblebee ran with her, keeping a close eye on his owner's cub to make sure nothing happened to the little sunshine.

“She's beautiful.”

“Yes, isn't she,” Tom replied but it didn't sound proud, only ...sad? Holly brought him six other pine cones that she desperately needed because they were just perfect in her eyes.

“Annabelle can be happy that she has you. You're a good father.”

“I'm not.”

Grace looked at him in confusion. What? Of course he was a good father. She saw if with her own eyes. She hadn't seen him being not nice, cuddly, sometimes a bit stupid or protective over Holly. She was his one and only, and it was heart warming to see how much time he spent with her even though he was working full time. It all reminded her of her own childhood with her father.

“You're almost a better father than my own had been,” Grace said when they were almost back at the house.

“I'm not her father, Grace. I'm infertile. None of these children carries my genes. Annabelle doesn't know and I would like it to remain it that way.”

Grace almost stopped in her tracks out of pure shock about what he said and how unpersonal his voice sounded. But if he wasn't Holly's father then who was and why didn't Annabelle know about this? He must've been lying right now.

“Does anyone else know?”

“No, only you.”

She blinked a couple of times, trying to comprehend the information he was giving her here.

“Why me?”

They had reached the house, the others still out of ear shot. Tom helped Holly out of her dirty rainboots and told her to go upstairs because they were having a bubble-bath-party as soon as he was upstairs too.

When she was inside and made a little race with Mumblebee who would be faster upstairs, Tom turned to Grace with a serious face.

“I'm only telling you this because I think you've been lied to enough and I don't think you are the type of person who would hurt people out of fun. I don't see what benefit you would have if your sister ended up kicking me out if she finds out eventually. If anything, you would lose the only person under this roof who can understand how you are feeling at the moment.”

He glanced over to the others. Ben had his arms full with the twins and Henry just kissed Annabelle behind her right ear. When Grace looked back at Tom, he was already inside toeing off his shoes before going upstairs.

“You look like you've just seen a ghost, Gracey. What's up?” Annabelle asked with a slight frown.

“I'm sorry. I think I'm just tired and need a nap.”

“Mind a little company?” Ben wanted to know and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“I'll stick to the dogs,” Grace replied with a disgusted huff.

Henry snickered about the cold wash for Ben but shut up when he heard the Alpha growl. Grace was already on her way upstairs into her room, passing by the open bathroom door and seeing Holly in a ocean of pink bubbles. Tom kneeled next to the bathtub and created weird shapes out of the scented foam for the girl's amusement.

“Can I borrow Mumblebee as my bed companion for today.”

“Rather flees than semi-intelligent conversation?” Tom asked in a cheerful tone for Holly who was still too small to make sense of the complicated words.

“A thousand times.”

“He's yours whenever you want to and he agrees.”

Grace thanked him and called for the dog to follow her. She had hoped that the walk through the woods helped to distract her and thanks to Tom's confession it couldn't have worked better. She definitely needed to ask him what lay behind all of this. He couldn't suspect her to simply nod and go on as if nothing had happened. But maybe that had been just his plan.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello,   
> I'm currently on Malta on vacation and I won'tbe back until the 13th October so I'm not sure I'll be able to upload a chapter until then. I'm sorry I haven't been updating the story more regularly but uni and other projects are killing my time, additionally to my current vacation plans.  
> I hope you enjoyed this a bit longer chapter after my long absence and are excited to read more in the future.


	36. Two broken hearts

When Grace was alone in her room, laying in her bed with Mumblebee's loud and deep snoring as the only noise in the dimly lit room, she tried not to think of what Tom had told her only minutes ago. He wasn't Holly's father. But who was it then? The girl was six years old and that meant that she must've been conceived only a few months after Annabelle's husband had died... but what if Annabelle had had an affair with Tom while still sleeping with her husband? That way Holly could be the legitimate child of Annabelle and her husband if Tom said the truth about his infertility.

Her head was spinning and started to hurt. She had to tell her sister. It wasn't right to let her live with this lie. But then again, Holly would lose her father, or at least the man she thought of as her father, if Annabelle would really kick him out. But why should she? Didn't she love him?

“No,” Grace thought out loud and slid deeper into her pillows, “She would see how hurt he is when she's with one of the others. If she loved him, she wouldn't need any of the others.”

And that meant that if Jack loved her, he wouldn't have needed his secretary.

Maybe Annabelle didn't even see what a good man she had in Tom and what a wonderful father he is. She couldn't be that blind, right? She couldn't consciously ignore the fact that he seperated himself from the family whenever one of the other men entered the room. Tom didn't say it but he showed it clearly in the way he acted around his “competitors”. And if Annabelle didn't do something about it, she would be the one losing in the end.

Grace couldn't imagine how much love it cost Tom to stay here and remain quiet for Holly's sake. Even if she wasn't his biological daughter, he had fatherly feelings for her that some children could only hope for. Jack for example.

“Jack,” she whispered and slowly reached underneath her pillow to pull out the envelope. The paper carried a faint trace of his scent, that spread through her like a warm stream, a sense of home, and belonging. But also the pang of disappointment and hurt over what he had done.

Grace took a deep, shaky breath and sat up straighter again. She had to read his letter. It was only fair. He had come all the way out here to talk to her and had even bothered sitting down and writing this letter in case he wouldn't find her here. She tried to convince herself to open the envelope, she knew it herself. Grace took a deep breath and gathered all her courage to finally open and unfold the pages.

 

_Dear Grace,_

_I don't know if I will find you at your sister's address but I hope that this letter will somehow make it into your hands. I know, I made a huge mistake and I don't even want to play down what I did and how much I acted like a stupid donkey hurting you so recklessly._

_I miss you and I'm worried about you. Leaving me without a word might be what I deserved but please, give me just a single sign that you're still alive. I just need to know that you're ~~fine~~  not dead. I don't know, if any of us can really say that we're “fine” when there are so many unspoken things hanging between us. _

_I can understand if you never want to see me again. I try to avoid my reflection in the mirror myself but I need to know that you are safe. I will sign the divorce papers within seconds if that's what you want and if you really think that you will never be able to forgive me, but please let me try to explain why I made this mistake._

 

Grace closed the letter again and took another deep breath. He should've stopped right there. Why did he think that she wanted to know the reason for his betrayel? But now that she'd started, Grace couldn't stop.

 

_I never had the plan to sleep with her and it was the first and only time when you stepped in on us. It just happened when I was in a bad moment of our relationship and I felt like I was more of a nuisance in your life than a husband and partner. I missed the cocky woman I met in that café months ago when you walked in and were so direct. It didn't feel like you were the same person anymore. I think, you retreated from me a bit everyday and I don't know why. Weren't you happy in the beginning? Before I made one mistake after the other?_

_I know, I should've talked with you about it but I was taught to be the tough Alpha who always managed everything on his own. I didn't. I was weak and I made a mistake._ _I don't want to play it down but that's just it. I made a mistake and hurt you with it, badly. I know that, Grace, and I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. I wish I could turn back time and make it undone but I can't._

_I can only hope that you'll come back home and give me at least a chance to make it up to you._

_But I also added blanko divorce papers to this letter just in case it's really all lost in your eyes. I will sign them if you want me to but I would rather try and talk before taking this step._ _I sincerely hope you might see a little chance for us, even if it's only to look me into the eyes when you end our marriage._

 

_I hope to hear from you soon._

 

_~~Love~~ Yours,_

_Jack_

 

Grace wiped her cheeks dry when she was done reading. When had she started crying? Maybe when she had realized that he would actually leave her if she wanted it. He wanted to leave her alone. He wanted to get rid of her! Why wasn't he fighting for her?!

She muffled her cries with her pillow but still startled Mumblebee awake. He crawled up the bed to push his muzzle between her face and the pillow, letting out a long groan when she let go of the pillow to hug him to her chest instead. It fucking hurt! Like a stab wound right in the chest. She wanted to talk with someone, she didn't know what to do! Should she sign the paper? Obviously he didn't want her anymore.

Grace forgot half the text she had just read. All the lines about begging her to tell him she was still alive and how sorry he was for hurting her. She stood up and wanted to go to the only person who seemed to know what it felt like to have his heart ripped out of his chest over and over again. Tom.

She knew where his room was and had to pass Ben's on his way there. The sounds that travelled through the closed door reminded her of the moment her whole life ended. God, she couldn't believe her sister was actually having sex only one wall away from the man who loved her like nobody else. How could she be so reckless and egoistic?

Shaking her head, Grace knocked on Tom's door but didn't receive an answer. She tried again and tested if the door was locked. It wasn't so she opened the door. He sat on his bed with Cazoo and Shimmy by his feet. He pulled his earphones out and looked at her with concern written all over his face.

“Can I come in?” Grace asked, the handle still in her hand and standing in the doorway.

Tom glanced at her over his reading glasses and nodded.

“What's wrong, Grace?”

“Can... can I talk with you?”

Mumblebee jumped up on his master's bed and slumped down like a wet cloth. He closed his eyes immediately like he didn't even care what was going on around him. The sounds of ecstatic screams, moans, and a headboard slamming against the wall made it hard to have a conversation so they moved over into Grace's room for their talk. It was remarkable how silent it was there, much to their mutual delight.

“Why is she doing this to you?” Grace asked once they were settled sitting next to each other on the edge of her bed.

“Because she can. Annabelle was under control her entire life and finally she has nobody who can tell her that she _can't_ do anything. She's free and she enjoys her freedom.”

“But she's hurting you with that.”

“Grace, please don't get me wrong, but I'd rather not talk about that.” He glanced at the letter in her hands. “So, what did he write?”

“That he wants a divorce,” she whispered and handed him the papers. Her voice hitched at the last syllable when the lump in her throat became rock-hard again and threatened to choke her to death.

Tom flipped through the pages before frowning. “They're not signed. Are you sure he wants a divorce?”

“Read yourself.”

Grace gave him the letter too and stood up. She walked over to the window and looked out into the night. It was incredible how dark it was out here, far away from all the lights and fuss of the cities and other people.

Tom let his eyes scan the lines Jack had written his wife.

“This doesn't sound like he wants a divorce. He wants to offer you a way out if you want one. He writes that he wants a sign of life and to mend things, Grace.”

“Lies. My husband is a liar and a cheater,” Grace whispered quietly and swallowed against the fresh tears rising in her chest.

“What do you want to do now?”

“I don't know. Stay here, I guess. I don't have much else unless I want to return to Flint and move into my parents' house. But I'm afraid he might show up there too.”

“And you don't want to speak with him? Send him a note that you're still alive?”

Grace bit her lower lip, knowing she lost the battle against her tears. Jack should pay for all the times she had had to endure that suffocating lump in her throat and the tightening feeling in her chest until she felt like she would never be able to breathe again.

“Why should I?”

“To make him stop worrying. I understand you want to make him suffer but-”

“Stop. Please don't say ''but''. He deserves to suffer and I will make him suffer for as long as I am and I'm still hurting like hell.” She heard movement behind her and a second later Tom appeared next to her.

“Alright. You are an adult and I can't force you to do anything. I don't read this as an attempt to divorce you. I think, he wants to speak with you,” Tom said in a low voice and Grace fought hard not to crush into his arms and let her heart-wrenching sobs echo through the entire house. Being so close to someone she could trust, an Alpha atop of that, made her weak in the knees.

Suddenly she felt warmth on her shoulders. His hands, it shot through her head and she finally let her walls crumble and collapse. Grace turned around and pressed her face into his chest, letting her tears fall freely and dampen his shirt. Tom only closed her arms tightly around her and rocked her slightly back and forth, humming soothingly.

It didn't take long for her to feel better in his embrace. He was all she ever wanted from Jack. Why couldn't she be with Tom? Why had she married Jack?

Suddenly a thought struck her like a wrong cord. Could she be with Tom? Her sister wouldn't object from what she had seen and heard in this house. But Grace couldn't see herself cheating on Jack. No matter how much he had deserved a taste of his own bitter medicine. He wouldn't find out anyway so all that would provide would be a deep sense of self-loathing because she decended to the same disgusting level as he did. She wouldn't be able to look at herself in the mirror.

“I'm so tired of all of this,” she said quietly and closed her eyes. Tom let go of her and it took all of Grace's strength not to whine like a child at the loss of contact and comfort. But unlike she had feard, he didn't leave her. Tom walked back towards her bed and pulled her covers back.

“Do you want me to stay?” he asked with a sympathetic look in his eyes. She wasn't sure what she wanted but she definitely didn't want to be alone. But not at any price.

“Would you stay at least until I'm asleep?” Grace inquired in a thin voice, wiping her cheeks dry with her sleeve. He nodded and Grace knew she could trust him.

They lay next to each other for a couple of minutes until Tom carefully draped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. She followed his soft, unspoken instructions and cuddled into his side. He smellt wrong somehow but better than being alone. He wasn't Jack but he hadn't hurt her so he was better.

“Why don't you tell her about Holly?” she asked after a few minutes of simply listening to his breathing and heartbeat.

Tom let out a deep breath and scratched the stubble on his chin. “Why should I? To let her know that I lied to her for years and that Holly is the daughter of the man she hated? She would kick me out and I don't know what the others would do with a cub that isn't theirs.”

“Do you think that they would hurt her? She's just an innocent child.”

“But not theirs. I don't think they would do something against her but they would freeze her out and Holly doesn't deserve that. She's a wonderful child.”

He was stuck, Grace thought and cuddled closer to him, just like she had been. Two broken hearts beating and shattering with every new beat.

 


	37. “ Nobody needs a threat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: Violence and suicidal thoughts. Don't say I didn't warn you.

The next morning Grace woke in Tom's arms. For a second she was terrified Jack would find out that she had spent a night in one bed with another Alpha. But then again, she wasn't sure she would ever see him again and he had lost every right to be jealous.

Tom groaned underneath her and rubbed the sleep from his eyes before looking around and making a thoughtful noise.

“Good morning,” Grace offered and managed an unsure smile.

“Morning. How did you sleep?”

“Good,” she whispered and added a silent, “I guess.”

“Have you come to a conclusion concerning your husband?”

Grace shurgged and made a strained face. She didn't want to think of Jack and his letter, at least not so early in the morning.

“Do you want to hear my opinion?” Tom asked carefully and sat up straighter in bed.

“Not sure but go ahead.”

“I think you would only benefit from a note to him. That way he'd know you're okay and won't come here again to search for you.”

“He would come back here because I sent him a note because he'd know that I am here and he would want to drag me back home again.”

“I wouldn't let him come anywhere close to you, Grace, unless you want him to.”

She wanted to believe him but she was still on her punishing trip and she would let Jack suffer for as long as it was possible.

Grace shook her head and stood up. She didn't say anything out of fear she would burst out into new angry tears and eventually let her anger out on him. Grace knew she had to be careful not to drive him away. Tom was the only friend she had here it seemed. Not even her sister was as friendly to her and considerate as he was and Grace needed all the kindness she could get to rest and heal.

Jack's visit and his letter had torn open the hardly healed wounds his betrayel had left and she needed time. Time nobody seemed to want to give her. The life in this house was hectic with the rivalry among the men and the children, screaming and running around like there was no tomorrow. Annabelle wasn't making it any better because she always seemed to be busy with her children or the household.

Grace tried helping her as much as she could before the screeching and crying wore her out again and she needed to get fresh air again only to be in the line of sight of one of Annabelle's men again. They disgusted her and the looks they sent her way were almost worse than Nicolas'.

She wanted to go home without risking to meet that bastard of a husband again. She had to bite the bullet one way or another. But here she had Tom and the option of solitude outside on the estate. It provided time and peace to clear her head.

“I think I will make breakfast before the others wake. You wanna eat with me or with them?” Tom asked and got up as well.

“With you.”

* * *

 

Grace remained dead silent for two months and it was destroying Jack. He couldn't sleep, work, eat, think. But he could still act. He had to or everything would blow up right into his face. His father would disown and probably stone him, his mother would never speak with him again. Jack knew he had to keep up the lies he had told them about Grace because he had passed the moment of coming clean before them and hope for forgiveness.

The only one who knew and grew more and more hostile against him for his lack of action was Rick. They would talk while training when they could be sure that none of the other men would listen to them.

“So, how's your wife?” Rick asked with a quirked eyebrow and closed his gloves tightly.

“Don't do that. I'm not in the mood,” Jack growled. He was sick of hearing the same passive-aggressive question every time they saw each other.

“I don't know what you mean. It's a perfectly normal, polite question after the well being of my sister-in-law. Nina is also more then excited to tell her the news about her pregnancy. I'm running out of lame excuses and I don't like lying to my wife. Not that you would understand the concept of being truthful and more importantly faithful to yours.”

Jack just stared at his little brother out of angry eyes. He had enough of everyone snorting, spitting, and bitching at him. He didn't know where or how Grace was and it was tearing him apart! But instead of being there for him, Rick preferred to twist the knife in his back like a fucking carousell.

“I shouldn't fight today,” he said in a dangerous tone and already began to open his gloves again when Rick nudged him in the shoulder. It was nothing, really, not even a brotherly jab but it was enough to make Jack snap.

With one ungloved and one glove fist he started punching his brother. Broke his nose, jaw, cheekbone, … and skull before the other Alphas, alarmed by Rick's choked out failing attempts to bring Jack back to reason, could finally pull him off of his victim. Jack was still struggling when one of the other men checked for signs of life in the motionless body in front of him.

“Ambulance! Call a fucking ambulance!”

“Get the doctor, quick!”

“He's not breathing anymore!”

“What the fuck got into him?”

The voices around him grew louder when the rushing of his blood finally subsided. Jack suddenly realized what he had done and stopped moving. He stared at the blood covered body of his little brother only a yard away from him, surrounded by concerned and shocked Alphas. What had he done.

“Rick?” The arms holding him down were pulled back and he could finally move again. Carefully Jack crawled over to him and touched his ankle. “Rick, get up. I'm sorry I didn't want this.”

No answer. Not even breath leaving his split lips. The blood that ran down his face and dripped to the black rubber flooring was only moved by gravity, no heartbeat forcing it out of the wounds Jack had caused.

Rick was dead. Jack had killed his little brother and best friend. The only one in the family he could trust, who had always been there for him. He was a murderer!

“Rick, get up, please! I didn't mean it!” Jack plead and grabbed his brother's leg tighter. His heart felt like it was getting squeezed right through his ribs with a sledgehammer.

 

An hour later he found himself pacing the floor in front of the surgery. The ring doctor had managed to reanimate Rick and was rushed to the hospital in record time. Jack had called Nina a few minutes after arriving here when the nurses had pushed him out of the surgery again.

He heard her fast steps behind him, knowing she was more angry than concerned … or at least equally. Jack hadn't even turned around completely when Nina had slapped him so hard that he tasted blood.

“You fucking moron! You fucking, selfish, brutal moron!” she screamed at him until her voice broke, “I'm expecting a child and you make me a fucking widow!”

“He's not dead,” Jack whispered and only then dared to turned around to face her.

“HOW DO YOU WANNA KNOW?!” Some nurses turned around and looked at them but didn't tell Nina to keep quiet for the other patients' sake. “Where the fuck is Grace? Why isn't she here?”

Jack's heart stopped for a second and it was enough to make Nina finally lose it completely. She curled her hands into tight fists and hit him as hard as she could. She left bruises but nothing more. Tears stung in her eyes when she yelled at him, “Everything you touch turns to ash. Everyone who loves you suffers or dies! Nobody is safe around you. Nobody! Not even your family!”

“I didn't hurt her,” Jack lied and grabbed her by the upper arms. This stress wasn't good for her baby and if the doctors really couldn't save his brother's life, it was all that was left from him. Nina slapped his hands away and wrapped her arms around her middle. The sight of her bloodshot eyes and shaking body as her breath hitched made him shiver. She had always been so composed and cool about everything... like Grace. And now he was faced with a sobbing Omega who wouldn't want comfort from him. Again, just like Grace.

Suddenly Jack felt like he was choking. Something inside him gripped his guts with an ice-cold hand and twisted them painfully. He wanted to run away, hide somewhere and pretend this last year had never happened. No Grace, no trouble with his family and Rick would still be in his corner, alive and safe. But he couldn't go. He had to stay, he was Rick's brother no matter what and he would be there when the doctors finally came out and told him if he had lost his best friend.

Jack slid down the wall behind him and sat down on the cold linoleum flooring. Pulling his knees to his chest, he buried his face in his folded arms and took deep breaths.

“What did you do to her?” Nina asked, her voice calm but still shaking.

“I made a mistake and she left me.”

“Why does nobody know?”

“Rick knows.”

“Well, if he dies-” Tears choked her and made it impossible to finish her sentence.

“He won't,” Jack whispered, praying for the first time in ten years to a god he didn't know existed or even cared about the world he'd created thousands of years ago.

For hours nothing happened, except that Edward also joined the club and almost broke Jack's skull for what he had done to his lover. Surprisingly, Nina was the one stopping her brother but Jack couldn't have cared less about his life or health. He was too concerned about Rick.

When his parents arrived and his father gave him the most hateful glare known to mankind, it didn't even penetrate his mind. His thoughts circled around other, more important things. Rick had deserved a better brother just as Grace had deserved a better husband.

Maybe Nina was right and nobody was safe around him. Maybe it would be easier for everyone if he just left and never came back. He was sure Grace wouldn't return to him and if Rick actually died he had nobody left who cared for him.

He knew how to get his hands on a gun without much fuss and people would probably not even hear the noise if he shot himself at home. In her sanctuary to feel just a little bit closer to her. Jack already mapped out how he would position himself to make sure his brain and blood wouldn't hit her beautiful snow globes when he eventually ridded his family off the burden of calling him their son.

Voices got louder and steps came closer when thr door to surgery opened and a man in blood covered scrubs emerged.

“Are you Mr. Hunter's family?” he asked into the round of worried faces. Jack stood up, bracing himself to hear the worst news he never thought to hear.

“Is he alive?” Nina asked and held onto her brother.

The older man took in a deep breath and nodded. Jack felt like he could finally breathe again but the look on the doctor's face didn't promise good.

“Can we see him?” Diana wanted to know with a relieved but still worried tone.

“Not yet. He'll be brought to ICU and is still sedated. We can't determine the effects he is suffering under after the severe head trauma he took.”

“You... you mean he could be damaged?”

Jack stared at his father after hearing his shaking voice. He had never heard him sound anything close to tears. Before the doctor could answer, he turned around and left. He couldn't hear Nina's sobs or his fathers concerned sigh. His heart was racing and pumping the blood through his veins so fiercly that all the sound in Jack's mind was the rush of his own blood.

Jack rescued himself into his car but didn't leave. Not yet. His hands were shaking too much to fit the key into the ignition and the shadow approaching his window was all too familiar to him.

Emily knocked on the glass to get his full attention. When Jack lifted his gaze he was shocked at how emotionless her face looked. Jack lowered his window and closed his fingers tightly around the steering wheel to hide his panicked tremor.

“What did you do?” she asked, eerily calm.

“I... snapped.”

“Like you do so often.”

“Are you here to remind me what an asshole I am? Thank you but I can manage myself, okay? I know what I did and that I shouldn't have done it.”

“No, you shouldn't have. But you're so talented in hurting others that I'm impressed it took you so long to turn against our little brother. I guess you made that up by increasing the severity.”

Jack growled, not at her but at himself. But Emily wasn't done with her little act yet. She finally had the chance to kick him when he was already at the ground and she wouldn't let him get off the hook so easily. Finally, she could be punish him for everything he did to her.

“You destroy everything. You are the sick branch on our family tree and you wonder why Dad wouldn't name you his successor. You are a failure and you will always be the self-centered, blind man you have always been. Nobody needs you, Jack. Nobody needs a threat.”

 


	38. Winter night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, TRIGGER WARNING FOR SUICIDE. I won't be held resposible for anything this might awaken or break in you. It you don't want to read this, you can continue with the next chapter.  
> For all the others: Please enjoy this quick update and I just wanted you to know that I LOVE you for all the comments you leave me. Even if I don't answer every comment, I want you to know that I love every word you send me.   
> In the beginning I was estimating this story to be over 40 chapters long and it will definitely be. Although, unfortunately I still can't say how many chapters will come after this one. Just note that this work is slowly coming to an end. But don't be sad as I'm already working on a few other ones. Thanks for reading.

Jack couldn't believe what his sister had just said. He knew she hated him, for whatever reason, since they were teenagers but that she would actually add to the knives already sticking in his back was hard. A thick lump formed in his throat when he realized that he really was unwanted even by his family.

“Don't worry, Emily, after tonight I will never be a threat to anyone,” Jack told her, hoping his voice didn't give away his inner turmoil. He started the car and drove home without looking at Emily's deep frown.

Jack arrived home... Well, the house he inhabited more than really living in. He dragged his hurting body upstairs into his office where he kept his gun in his wall safe he hadn't thought of in years. Now it would come in handy, at last.

But Jack still had to do one thing. It was questionable if Grace would even care about his death but he still felt the need to try to apologize even post mortem. Maybe she would come back once she knew he was gone and she had nothing more to fear from him.

Jack pulled out a piece of paper and started writing with a shaky hand around his pen:

 

_Dear Grace,_

 

And then he was lost. What could he tell her what she hadn't heard already. He had apologized over and over again, in that elevator, in the letter at her sister's estate, in his mind. She was tormenting him with her absence and it was alone his fault. He couldn't blame anyone else and it was burning through his guts like acid. Jack wanted to tell her that he had never wanted to hurt her with his ignorance and arrogance, that he had acted like a total idiot and that she had deserved a better husband and protector. The last 9 months of his marriage had left scars on him and on her as well if she was even still alive.

Jack closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. His head was thudding, his chest pounding, and his insides clenching tightly. He felt like throwing up but he hadn't eaten anything in two days so there was nothing to puke.

All he wanted was to see her again and hear her voice. Jack would've given anything to just find her save and sound. He didn't care if she beat the living shit out of him with a crowbar when they met again, if they ever met again. He only hoped she was still alive. Jack let go of the pen and rubbed his tired face. Only then he noticed that his cheeks were wet. Jack was shocked. He hadn't cried since he had been a child.

The silence, that occupied his house like a hostile ghost since she had left, was mocking him and seemed to get stronger with every time he let out a breath. It was waiting and lurking in the dark to see if he dared to dirsturb it with a new inhale of air. Eventually, he would leave it to rest on everything inside this house like a thick layer of dust after a final, loud shot of sound when he ended his existence.

His family would probably play it down in the media and use the incident with Rick as an explanation. ''Feelings of guilt have driven him to this tragic action'', the headlines would read. It would be required for publicity and reputation purposes to mourn him. Not a single line would be spoken or written about Grace. It was questionable if his family would even attempt to find her to string her into the public theater act.

Jack sniffled against his pathetic tears. He was an Alpha! Alphas didn't cry! But Alphas also didn't lose their wives because they were selfish, irresposible assholes who deserved nothing but a pathetic end. He glanced at his gun and then back to his letter. No, this was his suicide note to his possibly deceased wife who would probably never lay eyes on that piece of paper.

Why was he even bothering sitting here and lengthen his already ended life with this stupid image in his head that she would walk through that door to stop him right before he would pull the trigger? It was ridiculous to still hold onto the hope to see her again. Grace hated him and Jack wondered if she had ever really felt something else for him.

Jack stood up and slowly made his way to her walk-in closet. He hadn't touched anything in their bedroom and her realm. Her scent still lingered in her clothes and her side of the bed. He had kept out of there as good as he could because it fucking hurt like hell to see the grass green, fluffy sock she had discarded thoughtlessly next to the bed when she had last slept here, and think that she would walk through that door any second now.

Jack let his hand glide over the dresses Grace had left behind and remembered her wearing that light blue one at Fredericka's Uncollaring. It seemed like another life back then. With shaky hands, he took the dress off the hanger and pressed it to his nose. It send a shiver down his spine. Her scent woke memories in him that he had almost forgotten again. Her sparkling smile when she had danced barefoot with the other Omegas at Fredericka's Uncollaring was the most painful one but he also remembered the feel of her lips on his, her fingers raking gently through Cate's sweaty hair when they had brought her to Woodlark, or the sight of her kneeling between her beloved herbs in her garden.

Jack sat down in front of Grace's vanity, still holding the dress to his chest, and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked like a shadow of himself. His cheeks were sunken in, he had deep circles under his eyes, and his skin almost appeared gray in this light. He looked and felt like a walking dead man. Well, he wouldn't be walking for much longer.

Jack returned into his office, leaned over the letter and knew he only wanted to let her know one thing that had taken him too long to realize.

 

_Dear Grace,_

_I loved you._

_Please forgive me,_

_Jack_

 

He loaded his gun, dragged his tired body into her sacred realm, and sat down on the padded windowsill, her favorite place to sit if he remembered correctly. His eyes could hardly make out the shaped of the leafless trees outside in the darkness of the night. The light from the moon reflected coldly from the crystal clear, untouched snow blanket over the garden. It caught in the snow globes and created abstract patches of light on the floor, walls, and ceiling.

Jack had taken care of her plants all over the house. He couldn't bare the thought that they would be dead by the time Grace came back. Wishful and hurtful thinking. Now they would die with him in their middle. Hopefully after what he did a few hours ago the police would want a word with him and find him soon. Perhabs Nina could water them after he...

Jack looked down to the heavy gun in his hand. Alex had convinced him years ago that he needed a gun when he was practically living in the woods. Who knew what people would sneak around his property out here. He had never needed it until now.

He cocked the gun and placed his finger on the trigger. One muscular twitch and he would be gone. Jack placed the barrell against his temple and closed his eyes. He would no longer be a threat to anyone, nobody would ever have to suffer or hurt because of him. The mourning would be over soon and he would sink into oblivion just like Frederick and Margot had in this very house.

Jack let out one last breath, trying to calm his shaking hand. His blood would finally stop rushing in his ears and his body and mind would stop hurting. Silence would eventually wash over him.

In his last second, he remembered the first time he had ever seen Grace. Her beauty had struck him and her wit and mind had captured his whole being within the first few seconds.

“I'm so sorry,” Jack whispered and moved his finger to shoot.

 

* * *

 

 

Grace lay in her bed, not the bed in her sister's chaotic house, but in her quiet house with her husband next to her. The birds were chirping in the warm, pinkish morning light. Grace's eyes fluttered open and looked up at her handsome husband. Their eyes met and wrinkled when they smiled at each other.

“Good morning,” she whispered and cuddled closer to his warm, familiar body. Jack closed his arms tightly around her and started to purr. She was happy. It was a happy dream and turned into a horrible nightmare when she woke up in the strange bedroom in the middle of the night with Jack's scent missing and another, wrong one filling her lungs instead.

Tom had shared her room every night since their first one. He had never been anything but a gentleman to her. The farthest he ever went was putting an arm around her when she had had a rough night with a lot of twisting and turning.

Grace had found a dear friend and ally in him but nothing more. Tom's heart was only beating for Annabelle and Grace's... Well, Grace wasn't sure anymore what her heart desired. She wanted to leave this horribly noisy and animated house and return to her quiet garden even though it was almost Christmas. A truly beautiful garden was stunning even if covered with a foot of snow. Grace longed to see her garden again, sit in her warm, familiar living room, watch a stupid Christmas movie, and wait for Jack to come home from his all-important work in the evening.

God, she even longed to see Jack again. But whenever the serious thought of returning to Flint occurred to her, she got shills running through her body, twisting her gut in an ice-cold grip until she felt like throwing up. But with Christmas only a few days away the house had become even noisier. She couldn't find a single second of peace it seemed. Every couple of minutes someone was screaming, shouting or crying. Either the dinner wasn't ready yet, the children wanted their presents earlier or, even better, NOW, or Annabelle freaked out because someone had broken a Christmas ornament. All attempts to ask her sister to be a bit more quiet had fallen on deaf ears. She didn't care. Of course not.

It was wearing her out and creating every reason to return to her husband, despite the droning fear that after two months he might've moved along without her. Another, very pushing reason was her medication. She hadn't stopped taking her BC but it was slowly coming to an end and she was close to her next Heat. True, she had a variety to chose from when it came to males who could tend to her Heat but she was disgusted by two of them and the third one...

She couldn't ask Tom to help her and she already felt like she was cheating on Jack when she woke in his arms every morning. He had deserved a taste of his own medicine, there was no question in that but Grace didn't want to deal with the feelings her revenge would arouse in herself if she went through with her plan. An eye for an eye had never worked out and it sure wouldn't now.

“I have to go back to him,” Grace whispered in the empty room when she felt Tom stirring awake behind her.

“Why?” Tom asked and rested his chin on her head. He didn't sound hurt like he didn't want her to go, he just wanted to know her reasons.

“I'm running out of birth control.”

“You could get new pills somewhere here.”

“I don't think that the next street corner dealer, pharmacist, or doctor has them lying around. And everyone would start asking question where the sudden Omega was coming from. Too many questions and I'm getting really close to Heat. I would have to return to him anyways if I -”

Grace cut herself off. If she didn't want to cheat on him like he had. Grace wasn't like him. She was better, too good for any of the men here and Tom was no option.

“You can't take Heat sups anymore, right?”

She shook her head and closed her eyes with a heavy sigh. She turned around to face him and shook her head at herself.

“You could also spend it with another Alpha.”

“I've got a variety to chose from here,” she mumbled and eventually untangled herself from his arms but stayed next to him, leaning her temple against his shoulder.

“I can't do this to him,” Grace whispered, not trusting her voice to stay steady. Her heart was clenching painfully when she thought about seeing Jack again. She hated him at least as much as she missed him. “Would you ever cheat on Annabelle?” she asked after a few seconds.

“Your sister isn't my wife.”

“That's not what I asked.”

“I know,” Tom sighed stared up at the ceiling, “It's not so easy.”

“Yes, it is. Would you ever push another woman's skirt up to her waist, pull down her lilac coloured lace panties, open your pinstripe dress pants, and fuck her over your desk?”

Tom glanced at her quivering lower lip and closed his arms back around her before her tears started falling again. It's been two months, she told herself, it should be long enough to stop hurting.

“No, I wouldn't do that.”

“Because you love her.”

Tom nodded and let out another deep sigh.

“And if she loved you, she wouldn't hurt you like this,” Grace argued and sounded like a thick-headed child.

“It's too late for us. She can't send them away anymore. They are the fathers of her children.”

She wiped away the tears from her cheeks and sat up, his half-embrace loosening again.

“I another world, we could've be together. I wouldn't be married to a man who will always belong more to his family than to me. And you wouldn't only play Daddy but maybe be one already.”

She looked down to Tom's face when he nodded thoughtfully. Maybe they could still try in this world?

He looked at her, sitting up as well and seemingly thinking the same thing as her.

Tom lifted his free hand to her chin and directed her lips to meet his. Grace closed her eyes and savoured the feeling of warm, soft lips on her own. But they weren't the right ones and even though she knew that Annabelle probably wouldn't mind if they kissed, fucked, or had children with one another, it felt wrong to kiss the man who loved her sister.

Tom closed his eyes tightly when they had ended the short kiss and muttered, “I'm sorry.”

“Don't be. I didn't feel the famous spark either.”

He huffed an unamused laugh and shook his head. “Let's hope our alternate universe alter egos have more success than we do.”

She nodded and snuggled up to him for comfort. They stayed like this, sitting next to each other and staring out of the window into the dark winter night, until Tom picked up the conversation again, “When do you want to leave? I might use it as the turning point in my life as well.”

“What do you mean?” Grace mumbled and frowned.

He didn't answer. She already knew what he wanted to say. If Ben and Henry wouldn't quit the field than he would have to pack his things and leave or he would always only be one of many and never the only one for a woman who could love him the way he really deserved it. Holly would be the one suffering under his absence and she hadn't deserved it either. There could only be losers in this game of broken hearts.

Grace thought for a long moment. This couldn't end like this. He loved Annabelle and she couldn't be so blind not to see it. Although, maybe Annabelle saw it but didn't care because she still had two other men to satisfy her. This wasn't fair to anyone involved.

 


	39. Time for a change

Jack somehow waited for his life to flash up in front of him before eventually putting more pressure on the trigger. It never came, all he saw was darkness behind his closed eyelids. Well, he dissappointed even in his last second.

Suddenly he heard his doorbell ring and almost sobbed out his relief. Grace? She actually came back and at the perfect moment? He couldn't be so lucky, right?

Despite knowing that he hadn't done enough good in his life to deserve that, Jack lept up from the windowsill and hurried downstairs, gun still in his hand. His heart sunk when he recognized Nina in the dim light outside. He stopped in his tracks, not sure he wanted to hear what she had to tell him and he didn't want her to know what he had been doing only a few seconds ago.

But her eyes had already found the gun in his hand when he had stopped in the hallway, staring at her like a deer in the headlights.

“What do you want?” he shouted through the closed glass door.

“Open the door, Jack!”

“No, I'm busy. Go away-”

“Busy with that thing there?” she huffed and raised her eyebrows at his weapon, “Please, open the door, Jack. Rick woke up.”

He immediately lept for the door and opened it for Nina to come in. He held the gun slightly behind his back although she had seen it. But he didn't want her to reach for it or hurt her accidently. This gun would only be pointed at one person and that was himself.

“How is he? Can he speak? What did he say?”

“Give me the gun and I'll tell you everything you want to know.” Nina's voice was calm and controlled but her breathing was shaky and gave away her racing heart.

“No. I will still need that later.”

“For who?”

“My own business.”

“Jack, what are you doing?” Nina shook her head at him, almost looking like she was worried about him. She had shouted at him not even three hours ago that he was the reason everyone around him ended up being hurt. Now she was worried? He couldn't believe that.

“What do you think?” he snapped and grew impatient. He should already be dead and gone and Nina was only wasting his time. “Why are you even here? Didn't you all already told me to drop dead because I'm a waste of space?”

Nina shook her head harder and lifted her hands to sooth him when she moved closer to him. Jack automatically made a few steps back to keep the distance between them.

“Nobody wants you to die, Jack.”

“Of fucking course, you do! I almost killed your fake-husband, my little brother and best friend, my family hates me, and my wife is probably dead or in the hands of a sick psychopath because I'm a selfish idiot. You'd all be better off if I wasn't there anymore.”

“No, not Grace,” she argued and shook her head again, “And Rick wants to see you. That's why I came here. Not a second too late, it seems.”

“So, he's okay?”

Nina looked to the floor and nodded. “Rick has a terrible headache but that will go away. He says he feels like a steamhammer is trapped inside his skull but the doctor said it will probably take a few days and he'll be better again. Rick woke up a few minutes after you left. He told me what happened at the office two months ago and also what went on since Grace left. He played his part for your parents and that's when Emily dropped a sentence about you looking like a man on a mission. She actually seemed a bit concerned and that's why Rick sent me.”

“Emily was concerned?” Jack asked disbelieving.

“Yeah, that's what gave us the creeps as well.”

Jack shook his head involuntarily. Emily had been the one giving him the final push over the edge. Hearing that his heartless sister was concerned wasjust absurd.

“So, could you please come with me to the hospital now? I don't know if they'll put Rick on heavy painkillers and I don't want to see that he's out like a light when we arrive.”

Jack really didn't want to run into his family after today. He was sure his father would make his life hell and his mother would be the silent beauty behind her mate's back again. Jack had always wanted to marry a woman like her; beautiful, gentle, and a loving mother and partner. He had had all that in Grace, he'd realized too late. If Jack could somehow move around meeting his parents again in the short time he would keep himself alive, he would.

“He's waiting for you, Jack, and you owe him this visit. After that you can come back here and continue with your plan... if you'll still want to. But at least give him the chance to see you one last time. I know that if you don't he'll blame himself. Do you want to do that to him?”

Of course not. He doesn't want to leave even more scars than he had already caused. He wanted to stop, was that so hard to believe?

“Are you willing to share a car with me or am I too dangerous for you?” Jack asked in a low voice and regarded her with an unsure look. Her face didn't show any signs of fear or repulse. She wasn't afraid of him, just looked tired and worried about him.

“If you promise me not to drive against the next tree, we'll take your car.”

“We can't. Grace took it when she left me.”

In the end they shared a taxi to the hospital. The ride was silent and the air between them heavy. Jack was torn between his duty towards his brother, his need to apologize to him, and the urge to run away and hide in shame of what he had done. His parents and Emily had already gone home again when they arrived in Rick's hospital room. Edward sat next to him on the edge of the bed, holding Rick's hand and talking with him in a silent, tender voice.

Jack felt like he had been punched right in the center of his chest. He would never have what his brother had even though he didn't need to keep his wife hidden from cameras and headlines. Jack had thrown his priviledges away with both hands and it had taken him too long to see all the gifts he had been praised with: caring wife, beautiful home, a perfect future ahead of him. True, they had had their problems, he had felt left out from her emotions and he had been an ignorant idiot, but if only hey had talked more with each other they could've probably been happy together.

When Rick saw his brother standing in the door like a called out school boy, he asked Edward to leave them alone for a few minutes. He was reluctant, understandably, to leave but after a few moments he followed Rick's request.

“You wanted to speak with me,” Jack murmured when the three of them were alone and he sat down on one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs to Rick's left.

“I'm worried about you, Jack,” Rick croaked and cleared his throat to get his old voice back.

Jack groaned and rubbed his hand over his tired face. He didn't want his little brother to worry about him. He should be the one worrying about his little brother with all the stuff that went on in his hidden life. Rick lived with the constant fear to be found out and having his privacy and love life spread out in public. Yet, Rick managed. He was in love with Edward and Jack had never heard any problems from them, Nina had Philipp and they even managed to have a baby to complete the perfect show family.

“You'll never have to worry about me again after tonight,” Jack choked out, not having noticed the tears rising in his chest.

“What's that supposed to me?”

Nina made a gun gesture with her hand and pointed it at her temple. Rick's eyes grew larger for a second and his gasp was almost inaudible, even in the silent room.

“Thanks for snitching,” Jack hissed and turned his head away from them. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep his frustrated tears at bay. He was down and couldn't sink any lower. But he didn't allow himself to cry in front of them. Not that his tears listened to his will, when they rolled down his cheek, but he could tell himself that he had tried.

Rick had never seen his brother cry. Never. It was shaking him to the core. Maybe he had been a little bit too blind to see how much the last months had worn him out.

“Are we done now? Can I go back into my fucking silent house and you just send some cops to find me tomorrow morning? I don't want the house to stink of death.”

“No, we're not done, Jack. You need help.”

“My help is a 9mm caliber,” Jack mumbled and sniffed shortly before trying to regain his composure. He failed miserably when fresh tears blinded him. Jack dried his cheeks with his sleeves and took a deep breath to steady himself.

“Jack, I want you to be the Godfather of our child. You are my brother. I won't simply let you go, knowing you plan on killing yourself.”

“I don't think you should let me come anywhere near your baby.”

“C'mon, you're a great uncle,” Rick argued and managed a small smile.

“The last time I saw Cate and Lily I shouted at them because Lily wouldn't stop disecting her food.”

“Wasn't the last time you saw them when Emily had her miscarriage and Cate got her Heat? Seems like a stressful time,” Nina murmured and offered Jack a sympathetic smile, “I growled at Cate more than once because she was a brat.”

“But not Lily. Lily is an angel and I'm still clueless how she can be such a gem with those parents.”

“Black sheep of the family probably,” Rick replied and hoped for a slight snicker or at least an eyeroll from Jack but he was only met with a shake of his heavy head.

“We care about you. Rick and I want you alive and in our lives. We love you.”

“I'm a threat. Emily was right, nobody needs a threat,” Jack argued and had to dry his cheeks again.

Rick suddenly let out an incredulous laugh and lifted his eyebrows. “Did you just hear yourself? Emily was right? Jack, you're not yourself anymore. You need help. Please.”

Rick reached out his hand and waited for him to take it. Jack only stared at it like it wanted to bite him. He was finished with his life. He couldn't fuck up more than he had already done. He had no future in his family's company after the attack on Rick, and he had no reason to go on if Grace was dead. She should've been the center of his world but he had pushed her away. His own ignorance and stupidity struck him again like a heavy punch in the guts.

“Jack, please, don't give up,” Rick tried again.

“Maybe talking to a professional could help you. Edward is seeing a psychiatrist. Perhabs that's not the worst idea,” Nina suggested and came closer, laying a gentle hand on her belly and the other on Jack's shoulder. This simple contact let him break eventually.

He buried his face in his hands and sobbed. Jack promised to see the doctor and get rid of the gun the next day. He went home with Nina, a precaution to make sure he didn't so anything stupid until he had a chance to get help.

 

* * *

 

A few hours later and a few hundreds miles away from the family tragedy Grace helped her sister prepare lunch.

“Why are you hurting Tom like that?” Grace asked and chopped some carrots. Grace hadn't had an earlier opportunity to speak with her sister alone.

“I don't know what you mean.” Annabelle didn't lift her gaze from the potatoes in front of her.

“Of course, you do. You hurt him with every look you send their way and every touch you grant them. You are hurting him when you sleep with them and with every second they are living under the same roof as he does.”

“Well, he seemed to find distraction in your bedroom,” Annabelle snapped and turned to glare at her sister,

“I wanted to see him the other night and his room was empty.”

“It's not what you think.”

“Oh, is it not? Are you not doing just the same as I am? Fucking a man who isn't your husband?” She threw the washbrush into the water and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I'm not sleeping with him!” Grace defended herself but her sister was already boiling and that wouldn't change any time soon.

“Stop lying to me, and stop being a hypocritical bitch!”

“I'm not lying and the only bitch here is screaming at me right now!” Grace shouted at Annabelle and was sure she would have to pack her things asap. Well, it wasn't like she was thrilled to stay here any longer.

“Nobody's forcing you to stay here but you don't have anywhere else to piss off to, huh? You come to my house and fucking snort at my life style and play Mother fucking Mary because you can't comprehend that you weren't enough for your husband! I'm enough for three men, Alphas and Beta! I'm more of a woman, more of an Omega than you'll ever be. I won't let you call me slut in my own house! Pack your things and fuck off if you can't stomach free will and emancipation!”

Grace gasped at her sister's words and turned on her heel to run into her room. She couldn't stay here a single second longer! Throwing everything she had brought here back into her travelling bag, she didn't hear Tom knock on the door and eventually come in.

“So, you're leaving?”

“Yes, she never wanted me here and I can't stay here a moment longer!”

“Give me a few minutes to pack, okay? I'll come with you,” he said calmly and added in a quieter voice, “I can't stay here any longer either.”

“What about Holly?”

“I... I don't know. But it can't stay the way it is.”

Grace nodded, her thoughts racing as much as her heart. She sat down on her bed and took deep breaths. Her bag was packed, she was dressed and ready to go, but where? Could she really return to her old home, to him?

She didn't have much other choice if she didn't want to live in her parents' old house like a ghost wandering the hallways. She knew she would never been able to throw anything away. All the things in there had belonged to her father and it was all that was left of him. He would be so ashamed of both his daughters for how they behaved towards one another.

A few minutes later, she had calmed down a bit again and braced herself already to go back home. To Jack. She couldn't wait much longer. A knock on the door pulled her out of her thoughts and let her stand up. Tom held his suitcase in his hands and it should've been a clear sign that he didn't feel home here when all he owned he could fit into one suitcase.

“Ready to go?”

She nodded and took her bag. Down in the entrance hall, they walked into Ben who regarded their luggage with a quirked eyebrow.

“Going somewhere?”

“We're leaving,” Tom growled and offered Grace to take her bag.

“Does Annabelle know?”

“She wanted me to leave, that's what I'm doing.”

“And what about you? What about Holly? You're her father. You can't just leave her.”

Tom stood straight in front of the other Alpha and looked him right into his almost black eyes. “I'm not her father. She is Harrison Carlyle's child, not mine.”

“What?” Annabelle asked from the kitchen and dropped the kitchen cloth in her hands. “What are you saying there? You're lying, right?”

“No, I'm not. I can't have children. I'm sorry I lied at you. I just wanted to be with you but not like this, not as one of many.”

“You _are_ her father. Say it!” Annabelle was shaking, her face was as white as a sheet of paper. Grace only saw it from the corner of her eyes while staring down at her feet. “Tell me that she's not this monster's child!”

Tom turned towards her with a blank face. “I'm sorry, but I won't lie to you anymore.”

Just then Holly appeared from upstairs, having heard her name. She looked at her Daddy and then to her Mommy, not understanding why she had tears in her eyes and the air smelled of anger and distress. Holly ran to her mother and wanted to hug her but Annabelle flinched away and looked at her like she was a filthy cockroach. How could she have missed how much Holly looked like her husband. The same disgusting blue eyes and that chin!

“Go away!”

Holly stood in the middle of the floor, not understanding anything that happened around her. She looked back at her Daddy and searched for an answer in his eyes.

“Take her away from me! I never want to see her again!” Annabelle screamed and fled back into the kitchen. Holly started crying and buried her face in Tom's shoulder when he lifted her up into his soothing arms. Grace was shocked. Her sister must've gone through hell if she even abandoned her own daughter, knowing she's her husbands'.

They left the house without looking back at it once. Tom didn't bother packing Holly's clothes and toys. He would buy her new ones when they were settled in the city. He drove, Grace held the crying girl in the backseat and hummed tenderly. It all felt so much like the time Jack had brought them to Woodlark because of Cate.

“Do you know where you can stay in Flint?”

“Probably in a hotel at first. I have some money saved.”

“Maybe you could stay in my parents' house until you found something else. I guess, I'll stay there too until I can actually muster the energy to go back to him.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

 


	40. Merry Christmas

Jack sat in Dr. Bradley's office and kneaded his hands nervously. The room was smelling of distress. What else did he expect at a therapist's office? Well, he had never been to one so no wonder he was clueless.

The door behind him opened and a tall, gray-haired Alpha in leisure clothes and with a notebook in his hands entered.

“Good morning, Mr. Hunter,” he greeted him and sat down opposite of Jack, “How come you raided Mr. Morgan's appointment?”

“Edward is my brother's lover, how you might know, and my brother and his wife convinced me to see a doctor to solve my problems. It would've taken me approximately two years to get an appointment with you or any other psychiatrist who's worth their money,” Jack growled and looked down to his sweaty hands on his lap. Dr. Bradley hummed acknowledging and crossed his legs, getting more comfortable for their first session.

“So, what kind of problems are tormenting you?”

Jack found it surprisingly easy and freeing to open up to the stranger in front of him. Maybe it was the fact that he would never dare to break his confidentiality if he wanted to keep his job and reputation that allowed Jack to talk about Grace and his father, and how he felt guilty for everything that went wrong around him.

A week before Christmas was a weird time of year. Everywhere on the streets and in the media the picture of happy families propagated the coming season of love but for someone who was alone and still worried about his wife it was horror.

“Have you looked into your postbox lately?” Rick asked when he could come home at the 23rd of December.

“Nope, I don't need to see all the huge, sad eyes of hungry children in Africa. I have enough problems myself.”

“You'll find the invitation to our annual Christmas party.”

Jack stared at his brother blankly. “Why should they invite me? I almost killed their baby boy.”

It was a good sign that Jack teased again. Talking with Dr. Bradley had helped him a lot more than any of them had ever thought possible. Thankfully they had been wrong.

“I guess you could call it an olive branch. And I'm pretty sure Mom was the driving force behind it. You know all she wants is a happy family.”

“Can you remember when we had been a happy family? Because I don't,” Jack mumbled and scratched his growing beard along his jawline. He had stopped shaving since his almost suicide. The hairs along his chin were staring to get gray and he was glad that nobody was remarking it. At 38 he felt like he had wasted his life and now he was even getting gray hairs as if to shove his age into his face whenever he looked into a mirror.

“30 years ago when we had all been at the beach. We were building a sandcastle, chased Emily with a dead jellyfish in our hands until Mom told us to stop, and ate ice cream like once an hour because Mom and Dad just wanted us to be busy while they rubbed sun blocked onto each other.”

Yes, Jack actually remembered that summer. It had been shortly after Emily sixth and shortly before his eighth birthday. What a fucking eternity lay between then and now. Jack couldn't help but shake his head at the memories. They had never gotten around to visit the beach again because their father had always been too busy with the company or Emily had been at her academy, and then Rick and Jack had been off to boarding school. Their parents had masterfully managed to avoid any puberty years with any of their children. Well, maybe the beginning of Jack's. He had been 13 when going to the boarding school.

Jack suddenly noticed the long look Rick exchanged with Nina who just sat there on the couch, rubbing her baby bump.

“What? What did I miss?” he asked warily and narrowed his eyes. He still had deep circles under them but he almost slept three hours at night now. It was progress but still wearing him out.

“The invitation Mom sent is for you and your wife,” Nina answered and Jack knew he was fucked. It didn't matter if he showed up at the party or not, he was fucked.

 

* * *

 

It was snowing when they arrived in Flint. Grace loved snow and the cold season.

Holly had almost naturally moved into Annabelle's old room because it still kind of smelled like her. Grace had tried to explain to her why her mommy had been mad at her and suddenly didn't love her anymore.

“Your mommy... well.” She ddn't know how to tell her what she couldn't even understand herself. Tom was there for his little girl, spending his evenings in her room until Holly had fallen asleep. Then he would join Grace who had wandered the halls of her childhood home like a museum the first night. It was strange to be back here but miss the most important people of this place, her parents.

She'd been back in the city for a week now. Tom and Holly had found a small apartment for themselves and Grace had asked him what he wanted to do about the fact that Annabelle had abandonded her oldest daughter.

“She has a right to her father's money.”

“Officially I am her father. My name is on her birth certificate and it's not like we need his money.”

Grace still couldn't understand how a mother could push away her own daughter. Their father would've died of shame if he weren't dead already.

They had left the house two days ago, just one day before her PreHeat had set in. She couldn't push the necessary confrontation with Jack any further away if she didn't want to cheat on her husband.

The word still had a strange, bitter taste to it. She knew she wanted the ''good'' times back when he had made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world, when he had held her in bed, kissed her, touched her. But Grace's head was spinning with the what-if's: What if he didn't want her back? He hadn't tried contacting her after that letter she had read about a million times. What if he had another woman to serve his needs? He might've started a more serious thing with that whore from the office. What if she was destroying the life he had built up with her since Grace had left?

She took a deep breath and looked up to their snow-covered house. There was no light, so nobody was home it seemed. Maybe they were skiing in Aspen or had straight flown to Switzerland over the holidays. No, she thought and shook her head.

“He probably hates snow as much as he hates rain,” she thought out loud and turned off the ignition. She wouldn't get any answers if she stayed out here like a stalker. This was her home, she was his wife and that meant that she would have to stand her ground if any other woman dared to step a foot into her house.

That's at least what she told herself and it helped with her shaking hands and trembling breath when she climbed the staires to the front door. Once inside all memories came flodding back. The bathroom she had collapsed in after their first Heat together, the kitchen she had stood in every evening to make dinner, her beloved garden, now covered under a thick layer of snow and ice. She wanted to go upstairs and see if Jack had found a replacement for her when her eyes caught sight of a fancy, gold rimmed invitation with hers and Jack's names on it:

 

_Invitation for the annual the Christmas celebration_

_for_

_Mr Jonathan Royce Hunter III & Mrs Grace Florentine Chasseur-Hunter_

_24 th December, 6 pm_

_Camden Alley 2124_

 

The invitation was from his family and for both of them. So they didn't know she had left. If Jack was fucking another woman, he was at least keeping it a secret from them. Grace tried to keep down the spark of hope that lit inside her chest when she climbed the stairs to see with her own eyes if her closet was still only filled with her clothes or had been wiped clean of any trace she ever lived here.

There were only the things she had left when she'd fled this house months ago. Only now Grace could breathe properly again. She sat down on the stool on front of her vanity and buried her face in her hands. There was the slight hope, the flutter of tiny butterflies in her stomach, that she could return here, although she still wasn't sure that she could forgive Jack what he had done.

The clock on her vanity showed 4:32 pm. An hour and a half until they were expected to play the perfect couple for his family. She wondered how he had managed to keep her disappearance a secret but it would stop tonight. As if operating on autopilot she got dressed, did her hair, and walked back downstairs to wait for Jack's return home.

It wasn't until 5:40 pm that Grace heard his keys turn in the lock. She stood in the archway to the dark living room, kneading her hands nervously and bracing herself for the first meeting with him after such a long and draining time.

But Jack didn't even see her when he shrugged off his coat by the door, pulled his tie loose, and hurried upstairs, murmuring what sounded like possible explanations for why she wouldn't be able to accompany him tonight.

“She's with a friend. No, she's not feeling well? Or maybe, she's with her family? Fuck!”

And off he was. Grace furrowed her brows and walked further into the hallway so that, when he came down again, he would definitely notice her.

Three minutes later he almost fell down the stairs when he saw Grace standing right in front of him like a ghost from his past. He had already thought he had smelled her scent when he had entered the bedroom but had waved it off as a figment.

He mouthed her name completely shocked. This wasn't a figment. She was there, looking even more beautiful than he remembered. Jack cautiously stepped down the stairs and wanted to touch her to make sure she really wasn't just a cruel phantom that mocked him but Grace took a step back right when his fingers were about to make contact with her arm.

“Don't touch me,” she said calmly, no trace of emotion swinging in with the words, “We're going to be late if you keep staring at me.”

She walked past him, took her coat, he had completely missed earlier, from the wardrobe and left the house to wait for him in the car. Seeing him had made her angry again, knowing that he had cheated on her still burnt her insides. She couldn't forgive him, not now, not yet. He would have to earn the right to touch her again after his hands had come into contact with that filthy whore.

Jack tried to come up with a good opening sentence for their necessary talk but the whole way up to his parents' house he scratched one option after the other without coming up with one that didn't sound like it was ripped from a cheesy afternoon soap opera. Why couldn't he just tell her how lost he was without her and that he would do anything to make her happy again. Then again, had she ever really been happy with him?

When he parked the car in front of the country house they had celebrated their wedding in only a few months ago, Grace left the car even before he had turned off the ignition. She hurried to the front porch and waited there for him without once turning her head in his direction.

“Can we talk?”

“No,” she replied coldly and he could see in the warm light that shone through the windows from inside how her face changed from emotionless to an almost happy expression that would fool everyone as soon as they stepped through that door. He had once admired her for her ability to seperate her inner feelings from her outward appearance. Now it send cold showers down his spine.

As soon as they were inside and Jack put away their coats, Grace let her eyes wander over the people in the large warm house that presented itself in front of her. A giant Christmas tree was in the middle of the room, decorated in gold and dark red. Very traditional and classy. Around the tree a few couples danced to swing music. Christmas songs, of course. It was giving the whole scene a Fred-Astair-ish aesthetic. Grace hated to admit it but she loved it. If only her heart wasn't thudding in her chest like a steamhammer, she thought bitterly.

She found Jack's parents, Emily and both her daughters which actually made her happy, but no Nina and no Rick she noticed and actually allowed her mask to crack into a little frown. She had been actually looking forward to seeing them again. But other than her terrible in-laws she didn't know anyone. Nothing unsual, she sneered inwardly, after all she's the enemy from within for them.

Suddenly Nicolas stood right in front of her with a slimy grin on his face. Fuck, she had actually almost forgotten that he still existed too.

“Shall we honor the tradition here or rather go upstairs where nobody can interrupt us?”

Grace instinctively moved back a step, wrinkling her forehead in confusion and disgust until she saw the mistle toe hanging over their heads. He must've gone crazy if he actually thought he would get a kiss from her.

A deep, dangerous growl from behind her back made her relax a bit. She would always recognize Jack's threatening growl. Nicolas held his hands up in a soothing manner and backed away. Grace didn't thank her husband. Why should she? It was his duty to keep other Alphas away from her. Yet, his hands on her upper arms almost made her throw up.

“I said, don't touch me,” she hissed over her shoulder, beaming with anger. Anyone within a two yards radius would've known in what mood she was.

“Let us talk, please.”

“No,” she replied coldly and turned around to face Jack. Her eyes were like ice.

“Then why-”

“You have to kiss,” Lily cut him off. She stood right in front of them with a wide smile on her lips. Grace's mood immediately changed. She smiled almost as wide as the little girl and complimented Lily's dress before she cleared her throat and kissed her on her cheek.

“And now Jack.”

“Nooo!” Lily protested, “You have to kiss each other, not me!”

Jack's heart stopped. She wouldn't kiss him if she didn't even want to talk to her, or let him touch her at all. But he was wrong, like so often. She played her role as his loving, perfect wife like she was hunting for an Academy Award.

Grace lay her hands on his chest and stood on her tip toes before she gently placed her lips on his cheek. His lips had touched that whore. They were no longer hers and even though it was crazy, Grace had the irrational fear that she would taste her on them. He wanted to pull her close, press his lips on hers for a proper kiss, never letting it end but he wasn't fast enough to catch her.

“Are you happy now?” Grace asked in a cheerful voice and stepped away from Jack and closer to Lily. It didn't look like she wanted to bring distance between them for anyone who didn't know about their current problems. Lily almost immediately saw something that was more interesting than her aunt and ran off into another corner of the giant room.

“Grace, please. We need to talk about what happened.”

“Like what? How you cheated on me with your little office slut?” she suggested still in a cheerful tone that cut him like razor blades.

He was just about to open his mouth to answer her when she sighed and started strolling through the crowd as if he wasn't even worth her time. This passive aggressive behaviour was grinding his nerves but Jack knew better than to make a scene in front of everyone's eyes. He was still under observation from his family. He couldn't allow himself to fuck up again unless he wanted to be nothing more than a dusty footnote in his family's history.

After not even a minute Grace stood next to Cate who was just snickering with a few girl around her age.

“You look so different,” Grace laughed and looked Jack's niece up and down. Her body had changed into that of a woman so fast. Before Cate could reply anything, Emily appeared out of nowhere and pulled her daughter away from them. She glared daggers at Grace and spit out at Jack, “Keep your _wife_ away from my daughters.”

Grace ignored the pang of pain in her chest and only blinked a few times before she returned to her motionless mask as soon as Emily had dragged Cate far enough away from her. The young Omega looked over her shoulder and mouthed a ''Sorry'' in Grace's direction which she only answered with a forced smile. She didn't want to let anyone know how fucking hurt she was feeling right now!

“Grace,” Jack prompted her once more and slowly her patience and self-control were getting deep cracks.

She glared at him over her shoulder again and hissed, “What?”

“Talk to me.”

“You don't deserve that,” she whispered, her voice full of hate and a splinter of distress. She turned away from him again and wanted to go, when Jack caught her wrist and pulled her into his arms, knocking the air out of her lungs for a moment from being touched by him again.

“Then at least give me a single dance.”

He wanted to add, ''I'm your husband'' but decided that he had pretty much lost his right to use that fact as an argument to convince her to do something for him.

With a small sigh, she eventually gave in and let him guide them onto the dancefloor. Grace fought hard against her inner desire to lean her head against his chest, close her eyes and only follow the little commands his body were sending out at hers. But she lost the battle without a second glance. At least she didn't sigh contently when he stroked his thumb over her back and pulled her closer against his chest.

“I thought you were dead,” he whispered after a few seconds.

“But you didn't tell anyone that I had left. Nobody knows what you did, right?”

She could feel him swallow thickly before he answered, “Only Rick and Nina.”

Of course, the brothers were keeping each others secrets like well-trained guard dogs. Grace wasn't sure if she was glad that nobody stared at her because they thought she was a ghost or if she should feel insulted that he hadn't thought her disappearance important enough to inform his father about it. Jack so desperately wanted to talk to her but still he wouldn't have moved a finger if she hadn't returned on her own free will ...driven by her biological clock ticking loudly in her head.

“I'm sorry, if I hurt you,” Jack started what would've been his hour long apology but Grace suddenly pushed hard against his chest and looked up in his face like she had no idea what he was talking about.

“ _If_ you hurt me?” she whispered and shook her head, a thousand insults ran through her brain in a slip second.

But instead of screaming at him right in the middle of the dancefloor, she used the best method known to her to punish him. She said nothing and left him standing before she made her way into a quiet corner of the room to take a few deep breaths and bring her thoughts back in order. Her heart was almost bursting out of her chest now. Her lungs burned because she forcedly kept her breathing calm even though she wanted to tear this whole house down.

“I can't believe she really did that. She seemed actually really nice,” Grace heard from a small group of women that had gathered around Emily as their Queen of the hive.

“This sham on two legs has taken my Cate away from me and brought her to Woodlark. She had been there. I would never send my children to a place where dirty miners send their brats. We stand above that niveau,” Emily said in a hushed voice, looking over at Grace with a side glance.

“What did you just say?”

The other women moved out of the way when Grace came closer with cautious, slow steps. Her insides were boiling but her face was as controlled as ever.

“Ah, so you've also never learned not to listen when other people have a private conversation.” Emily turned to one of her ''friends'', “I will take Cate out of that horrible school before she has to return there. I don't want her to lose worth like _she_ did. Can you imagine that she was already 20 years old when my brother uncollared her?”

The women looked at Grace like she was a cockroach.

“Father was against their marriage but Jack wouldn't listen and now we have this dirty miner's daughter in our family. What a humiliation.”

Grace clenched and unclenched her hand and stepped a bit closer.

“What did you just say about my father?”

Emily looked at her as if she hadn't even noticed Grace standing within an arm's length. She lay her head to the side and smiled like a cat. “Are you deaf? I said, you are the filthy daughter of a dirty, poor miner and-”

The loud smack of flesh hitting flesh and a sharp pain shut Emily up. Grace hand burned but it was worth the knowledge that she had slapped this bitch right in front of everybody. Her friends gasped shocked before Emily could even comprehend what had just happened, slowly rising her hand to her pounding, red cheek to check if she was bleeding. Not yet, but Grace wasn't done with one slap. She would tear her to shreds!

 


	41. Wrong Sides

“You fucking bitch, don't talk about my father!” Grace screamed at a completely flabbergasted Emily who still held her burning cheek, “Your husband is a pig and acts like he doesn't even know you exist! You are so self-centered that you didn't see your daughter slide into her first Heat because you were too fixed on the idea to give that son of a bitch a new child you could ignore Lily over!”

The other guests and family members only exchanged shocked glances but nobody tried to get Jack or at least his father to bring an end to this unspeakable scene.

“You just proved to everyone here that I was right about you and your worthless family,” Emily hissed and Grace was just about to rip her to a million fucking pieces when two strong arms wrapped around her middle from behind and lifted her up to carry her out to the front of the house.

“Let go of me. I will kill her!”

“Yes, I know, and everyone inside saw that!” Jack shouted and let go of her. Her head was red, her eyes shooting daggers when she turned around to him. “What the hell was that? You slapped my sister?”

“She talked shit about my father!”

“Then let her! Grace, for fuck's sake, you attacked my sister at our annual Christmas party!”

Suddenly Grace grew completely still. She moved a step closer and hissed with a cold glare, “She deserved much more but you are always on her side, aren't you?”

“Well, guess what, Grace, she's my sister, my family.”

“I AM YOUR WIFE!” Her voice was so loud that it echoed from the walls of the house. Jack looked over his shoulder to see if someone was watching them from the windows. Of course they were. When he turned around again, Grace was already on the way to the parked cars.

“Wait!”

He ran after her and caught himself a hard slap from her when he grabbed her by the upper arm to make her stop.

“Go back to your fucking family,” Grace sobbed, completely disappointed in him, in his family, in everyone. Jack was still too shocked that she had actually slapped _him_ to react immediately or notice the thick tears that were falling from her cheeks. She had slipped her arm out of his loosened grip again and was back on her way to the cars.

Jack knew he had the car keys in the pocket of his pants so sooner or later she would have to come back, unless she planned on walking the whole way back into the city. Maybe she just needed to cool down again. His heart was thudding painfully. Jack was tense and it felt like the muscles in his back felt like they were about to tear. He wanted to speak with her but also, even though he was on his way out of his father's company and already applying to other firms, he didn't want to overthrow himself with his family. He turned around and wanted to apologize to Emily for Grace's behaviour, but his mother stood in the door with Jack's and Grace's coats in her hand.

“How is Emily?” he asked as soon as he saw her staring down at him. She didn't look angry which he took as a good sign.

“She's still able to spit venom. So, she's fine,” Diana huffed and looked past her son to Grace's figure slowly getting smaller and harder to see in the darkness.

“Are you kicking us out?” Jack nodded down to their coats and tried to show his lop-sided smile, but he failed miserably.

“Are you not following your clearly distressed wife?”

“She just needs a bit of space,” Jack murmured and avoided the stern look his mother was giving him right now.

“Don't be an idiot and follow her. Bring her home and tell her that I want to see her tomorrow afternoon around 3 o'clock.”

Jack was suddenly scared like never before in his life. Grace would definitely tell her that she had been gone for more than two months and also give away the reason for her disappearance. His parents would know that Jack had lied to them the whole time.

“Stop dreaming, John!” Diana snapped her fingers in front of his face and pushed the coats into his arms before she shooed him away.

Jack followed Grace with a deep sigh on his lips but his mother was right. He had to calm his wife. Emily was fine if she was still able to snap and sneer. When he was by the cars, he was clueless where Grace was. Not at his car and not at any other. Oh, no, no, no, no! She hadn't left him again, had she? Fuck! Back for an hour and he had fucked up the only chance she had given him to mend things again!

He started panicking and listened into the darkness. Jack eventually picked up a silent whimper from the back of his car. Slowly, he followed the noise and found Grace sitting on the wet, snowy ground with her knees pulled to her chest, crying and shaking under her sobs and the coldness. Oh God, she wasn't gone! Merry fucking Christmas, he thought tiredly and lay her coat gently around her shoulders.

“Why aren't you with your perfect family?” she spat out at him.

“My mother kicked me out to avoid more trouble.”

Grace shook her head and cried harder. He opened the car door and offered her his hand. “Let's go home.”

She huffed and slapped his hand away. “I don't have a home.”

“Then the place where your stuff is.”

Grace glared daggers at him for his almost annoyed tone, getting up from the ground and screaming in response, “I didn't ask you to come here or pull me away from your sister. I would've broken her nose but nothing more!”

“Stop screaming at me and get in the car! We'll talk home.”

“NO! Go back to your precious family. Why do you even want to talk? I'll never be anything but a stranger you may or may not sleep with! I tried everything to be the perfect wife for you. I gave you everything!” Grace teared up again. Angry, hot tears streaming down her face as she screamed her soul out. “Why did you do it? I made you dinner every day, I washed your clothes-”

“I never asked you to do that for me!” Jack interrupted her.

“SHUT UP! I'm talking now!”

“No, you're shouting and I'm pretty sure everyone in the house, everyone on this fucking planet can hear you losing your fucking mind right now.”

“Let them! I want everyone to know that I was perfect! I stomached your annoying little habits, smiled away every insult from your bratty sister and every scrutinizing glare from your heartless father, didn't even make a scene when Nicolas groped me and you didn't DO ANYTHING AGAINST IT!” Her voice cracked shortly and Grace needed to take a deep breath before she could continue, “I never gave you a reason to run to that slut and fuck her. I never once said no to you.”

Jack's heart stopped for what felt like eternity. What did she mean with Nicolas and, even worse, was she saying that she had had sex with him although she didn't want to? Had he raped his own wife? Driven by instinct and the heavy smell of her sour distress and bitter anger hanging in the air between them, he reached out his hand to touch her, pull her into a hug, and stroke her back up and down until she was feeling better, but Grace flinched away before his hand could come too close to her.

All the things she had said, well, screamed at him didn't hurt as much as this single move. It hit him like a canon ball right in the chest. She shook from her angry sobs and wrapped her arms around herself when the lump in her throat turned to concrete.

“Wh-why did you hurt me like that?” she asked him with a hitched voice, “What did I do wrong?”

Jack stared at her wide-eyed. She was blaming herself?

“Nothing,” he whispered. It was the only thing he could say before his throat closed up.

“Then why?” The tears falling from her cheeks were like acid dripping on his guts. She couldn't bear his sight a second longer and turned her head away. Grace felt lost and unloved and completely out of place. She had nowhere to go after she had just overthrown herself with his allmighty family. Jack would never be on her side when the alternative was his family or their company, she realized once again.

“G-goodbye J-jack,” Grace sobbed, her cheeks wet and burning with shame, and turned on her heels to walk away from this house, this family, this man. Her high heels sunk into the snow and made her shiver in addition to the hiccups from her crying. Her arms wrapped themselves around her middle, pulling her coat tighter so that, somewhere in the back of her mind, she could lie to herself that it was his arms and not just layers of fabric.

Grace suddenly stopped in her tracks, closing her eyes when she remembered what had partially brought her back to him. She was completely alone and was right in front of her next Heat. She _needed_ him and his protection. Great, she thought and sarcastically applauded herself internally, she had masterfully managed to fuck up her entire life in what? An hour? Or when had it started to go downhill?

“Grace, please don't leave me again,” she heard right behind her and pressed her lips to a thin line. She wanted nothing more than to turn around and hide herself in his coat until she stopped hurting but whenever she closed her eyes she saw them together on his desk, kissing and fucking like animals.

“I haven't slept properly in two months. I haven't eaten. I almost killed my brother. Please, don't go.”

Slowly, Grace turned around. He stood right in front of her, not even an arm's length away from her. She could feel his body heat ghost over her own skin.

“I-”

Grace couldn't finish her sentence before her sobs cut her off. Jack reached forward and carefully touched her shoulders, expecting her to take a step back or slap his hands away again but she actually let him touch her. She made a little hiccup sound and leaned against his chest for support. Grace was tired and hurting.

“Come home with me,” Jack whispered into her hair, clinging onto the hope that she was actually in his arms.

“I can't forgive you just like that, Jack.”

“I didn't ask you to forgive me, just to come home with me and _talk_.”

Grace opened her eyes when she heard the desperation in his voice. For the first time she noiced his sunken in cheeks, dark circles under his eyes, and the feeling of his skinny body under her cheek. He looked like a shadow of his former self. Without wasting another second, she stepped around her husband and they slid into their car without a single word.

She gave him the faintest hint of a smile when he turned the key in the ignition, leaning her pounding head against the heavenly cool window and closed her tired eyes. They saved the talking for when they were home again, silently savoring the familiar sound of each other breathing. Grace could've sworn she heard his heart, beating evenly, lulling her into an almost-slumber and fully trusting Jack to bring them home safely.

Home, what a small word with a big meaning, she thought, before she closed her eyes with a content little sigh.

 

Once there, the prospect of talking made the air heavy again. Grace toed off her uncomfortable heels and thanked Jack silently when he helped her out of her winter coat. They walked into the living room, silently agreeing on having the necessary conversation on the couch, it was comfortable and yet somewhat neutral.

But before Grace could sit down on the sofa, Jack decided to be brave and pull her into a hug. The fear that she might push him away and scream and shout at him ...or worse, punish her with silence again was pumping through his veins like lead.

But Grace didn't do any of it. Instead, she leaned her head against his chest and even returned the hug. She had missed his scent and his warmth so much. Jack took deep, calm breaths, sucking in her scent like oxygen.

“I thought you were dead,” he whispered into her hair after a long, silent moment.

“Still you didn't tell anyone I was gone. Except Rick of course.”

“I flinched whenever I heard the phone, afraid the police would call to tell me I would have to identify your body. I made so many mistakes, Grace, and I can only say again and again that I'm so, so sorry.”

She loosened her arms around his unnaturally, bony frame and looked up into his eyes.

“Why did you cheat on me?” she asked him with a surprisingly calm heartbeat, “Did you think I wouldn't care when you fucked around?”

He let go immediately and sat down on the couch. Jack buried his face in his hands because now it would be decided if he would stay married or strengthen his reputation as the worst failure of the Hunter-family.

“I didn't fuck around. It was the first and last time I cheated on you,” Jack tried to explain without sounding like an asshole. But in Grace's ears it only sounded like an insult.

“Already one time to many.”

“Why did you even care? Huh? It wasn't like you loved me.” He turned his head to the side and looked at her from tired but suddenly angry eyes. Emotions he had kept down for too long boiled up to the surface. Grace only stared at him emotionlessly. “Did your heart beat faster whenever I came home?”

She swallowed thickly against the sudden lump that had formed in her throat. She wasn't going to cry in front of him ...again! She kept her eyes down at her hands to have something else to look at but him. She couldn't bear his sight and the unjustified glare he sent her way.

Grace needed a moment before she replied, “It stopped when I saw you with her.”

Jack chewed the inside of his cheek. “You want to know why I did it?”

He stood up only to sit down on the armchair again, bringing a little distance between them. The dark circles underneath his eyes became even more prominent in the dim light around them.

“You're right. You were perfect,” he started and looked down at his kneading hands, “I came home and the house smelled of food, the laundry was done, the house was clean. You ...you didn't need me.”

Jack made a small pause and sighed before he continued, still avoiding her eyes, “Sometimes I had the feeling that you didn't even want me near you. Only staying with me because it's what everyone was expecting from you. Your life would've been exactly the same if I didn't come home. And whenever I touched you, it felt like you were only enduring it, playing the role of wife masterfully.”

Grace stared at him with wide eyes as soon as she had heard the word ''perfect'' from his lips.

“You were so independent and... calm. I didn't feel needed by you in the slightest.”

“And she made you feel needed?” she asked with a dry mouth, trying not to scream her lungs out that she had craved his touch more than anything and that she had needed him like oxygen but he hadn't been there for her!

Jack hung his head low in deep, red shame, and nodded slightly. He wanted the earth to swallow him. His reason to throw away his marriage was ridiculous in hindsight but he also remembered this strange emptiness he had felt around her and the way Michelle had managed to make his heart beat faster with only a wink. Jack had felt like a nuisance in his own home but he had been under pressure to keep up the facade for his strict father until... well until he had shown him in the clearest way possible that he didn't want him as his successor.

“I never had the intention to hurt you, Grace,” he admitted quietly and he wasn't lying. He had been under the impression that she didn't care for him.

“If I hadn't walked in on you, would you have told me?”

Jack didn't answer. He honestly couldn't say. He had never thought that far ahead. No, he hadn't thought at all when he had destroyed everything he had had. Grace blinked against the tears in her eyes and couldn't bear looking at him anymore.

“Are you still seeing her?”

“No, she transferred to our London office two days after you left.”

“Was it worth it?” Grace wanted to know with a thin voice, cracking at the last syllable. From the corner of her eye she could see him shake his head.

The air smelled sour with their mutual distress and her utter disappointment that rose inside her chest again. It was nauseating for Grace being so close to her Heat and therefore being extra sensitive. Oh God, her Heat, she remembered.

“I entered PreHeat yesterday,” she whispered, still not able to lift her eyes to look at her husband. But Jack looked over to her, almost shocked.

“Is that why you came back? Because your biology forced you to?”

“Why do you say it like it was something bad? Do you want me to leave again? Do you want me to find another Alpha?” Her voice was heavy with the sound of reproach. “Is that what you want? Maybe Nicolas has time for me.”

Jack glared at her until he remembered what Grace had shouted at him on the parking lot. “What did you mean with Nicolas groped you and I did nothing?”

Her fuming anger was replaced with a weird fit of shame although she hadn't done anything wrong that day except not telling her husband it had happened. Jack waited for an answer but as soon as he saw her quivering lower lip, his mood changed from suspicious and on edge to concerned.

“What did he do to you?” he asked softer and still waited for an answer.

“He just...” She couldn't find the right words and needed to take a deep breath. “It was at your mother's birthday. I needed some fresh air and went outside on the terrace and he... he followed me.”

Jack listened attentively, balling his hands into tight fists, and working hard to stay calm. Grace couldn't dare look up from her hands on her lap when she continued telling Jack what had happened back then, “He told me that I owed him something because he got beaten up for just talking to my by _you_. He pushed me against the wall and … His hands were everywhere. When it was almost too late Nina showed up and he let go of me.”

A tear landed on her hands and a second later Jack sat beside her, one hand on her back to sooth her.

“I didn't know that. I would've never wanted to hurt you-”

“Never hurt me?” she cut him off with a tired huff. Grace shook her head and closed her eyes in defeat. She didn't want to talk or think about this anymore. Grace was here again, her husband sat next to her and actually comforted her on his own accord for the first time. But no time to waste. She had to know if she could stay here or not after what she did tonight. Grace needed to hear him say it.

“I can't go back to where I was, I don't have any family left, and I can't go to anyone while I'm on Heat, Jack. I simply have nowhere else to go. I don't have a home anymore, only a house full of dust and loneliness, just nowhere I belong. I'm lost.”

And she sounded like she was lost. Tears making her voice heavy and her lower lip quiver. Jack wanted to hold her closer and turn back time before she had hated him.

“Grace, this is your home,” he whispered a bit helplessly. She finally looked at him, her eyes red and puffy. “I'm so sorry for what I did to you but -”

“Shut up, Jack.”

She was so tired of hearing his apologies and everything after a ''but'' was only making it worse. Grace wanted him to hug her and purr until she fell asleep in his arms. No, wait, she didn't _want_ that, she needed it!

Jack pulled his hand back from her and was confused about her sharp tone. It collided with what he was sensing by the way her scent slightly changed but he wasn't allowing himself to actually act on his instincts before she was giving him a clear signal. Her pleading look a second later at the loss of contact was enough. He pulled her into his arms and purring for her as lowly as he could. He hadn't purred in more than two months, almost having forgotten how good it felt for him as well.

Grace's scent changed within a blink of an eye. Her distress faded the instance his purring started. She snuggled into his chest, tugging her head under his chin, and taking deep calming breaths of his scent. Jack could've sworn he heard her sigh contently when his purr became even deeper, causing his body to vibrate more. Yes, Grace thought blissfully, this was exactly what she had needed.

 


	42. Serious talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry to tell you I miscalculated my chapter count, but happy to say that I still have two more chapters to go instead of just one.
> 
> Jesus, that's a long chapter, but with only two more chapter left I thought you'd appreciate a longer read.

Grace almost fell asleep in his arms but couldn't in the tight dress she was wearing and she finally wanted to sleep in her own bed again. She let go of him and Jack followed her lead only reluctantly. Now that she was finally back in his arms, he never wanted to let go of her again. The last two months had taught him how important she was for him.

“I wanna go to bed,” she whispered, her lips close to his. Jack nodded and pulled her with him when he walked upstairs. The door to her realm was open, the moonlight illuminated the dark room almost ghostly.

Grace stopped to take a look inside, half expecting it to be nothing but a mess, because he might've trashed it in a fit of uncontrollable anger. She would be sorry for her snow globes. Jack turned around when he felt her slight resistance and started worrying. She didn't want to spend her first night home in her room right? He sincerely hoped not. Their bed had been too empty for too long.

Grace let go of his hand and turned on the light in her realm. She clutched her hands over her mouth and smiled broadly. What she saw was such a small thing but held such a great meaning.

“You kept my flowers alive.”

Jack stood by the door with his hands buried in his pockets and looked over to the many plants she had left behind two months ago. He pursed his lips and dropped his gaze down to his feet.

“I couldn't let them die. They were the only things here that really meant something to you.”

“Not the only things.” Grace turned around again, took a deep breath before she wrapped her arms around his middle almost shyly like they had just met. She was so glad that he had taken care of her plants in her absence. That meant that he had consciously taken the time to water them and he must've thought about her when doing so. He hadn't just continued with his life like she had never existed and had never had an impact on him.

“I thought that if I eventually get the call, I would at least have managed to keep them alive,” he murmured into her hair and swallowed against the lump forming in his throat when he remembered the panic he had felt whenever the phone had rang.

“The call?”

“The call when the police would tell me that they had found your body. I told you I thought you were dead when I didn't hear anything from you or your sister,” Jack explained, clearing his throat to keep his voice steady. “I was there and talked to her.”

“I know,” Grace said and looked up at his slightly glistening eyes, “I was in the house, listening to you and Annabelle.”

“So, you've got my letter?”

She nooded and felt shame creep up her neck. She could've just told him that she was alive and well. It would've probably spared him sleepless nights and so much worrying judging by the bags under his eyes.

“I deserved your silence and everything that came with it,” Jack whispered, not seeing any sense in asking her why she hadn't called him or wrote him back or sent him a carrier pigeon with a one-liner that told him he didn't need to worry. That she was in his arms now, hopefully meant that two months of cursing himself, spending countless, sleepless hours and almost ending up in jail had been punishment enough. He so desperately wanted a new beginning with her by his side.

“I'm tired,” she whispered against his chest and he let go again to continue their way to their bedroom. It felt strange to be back here with him. She had walked in here earlier and it had made her heart clench in her chest but now with him... it was completely different. Almost like it had an edge to it, an air of suspense of what the night might bring simmering around them.

Grace knew she just wanted to be held and hold him in return, grow accustomed to his body again. It had changed so much over the last months. Maybe she had changed too and didn't notice it. Grace closed the door behind them and only then let go of his hand again to undress. Jack turned on the bedside lamps like nothing was unusual and turned around just in time to see her reach for the pins in her hair.

“I always loved this moment,” he whispered, watching her in the warm glow of the small lamps. She furrowed her brows questioningly. “When you took off your armor of the day and I could finally dive my hands into your hair.”

“Why did you never tell me that? I would've skipped my morning ordeal of putting my hair up in a neat updo then.”

“I didn't want to dictate you how you should look like,” Jack replied and started unbuttoning his dress shirt, “You were always beautiful. Just perfect.”

“I wasn't. I just played a role, Jack.” Grace walked over to her husband, she had to tell herself over and over again that he was _her_ husband, and interlaced her fingers with his. “I never wanted to give anyone reason to look down on me.”

“My family did it anyway. I'm sorry, I tried to make them stop.”

“We were simply outnumbered,” she whispered and leaned her forehead against his chest. The beating of his heart was like music in her ears, “We still are.”

“I'm on my way out of this pack of wolves.”

She furrowed her brows when she looked up at him, waiting for an explanation.

“I quit. I'm no longer part of my family's company. I'm already applying to firms and need to see if I can return to the last company I worked for before becoming part of the family legacy. Didn't you wonder why nobody was talking to us tonight?”

“I assumed it was because they hate me, so not really,” she confessed and turned around to ask him quietly to help her with the zipper of her dress.

“No, they hate me. I'm a shame for the name Hunter and I guess after tonight and everything that happened this year I don't have to expect any invitations from them ever again.”

“Did _I_ mess up your life?”

“My life was messed up long before I met you, Grace. I am the only one to blame.”

That had sounded completely different a couple of months ago. He had changed, Grace thought and pulled down the straps of her dress when she dipped into her closet to change into her beloved Pug-sleepshirt. When she returned, Jack was already down to his boxers and a simple white t-shirt, sitting on the edge of the almost abandoned bed and pulling off his socks.

Grace watched him for a second. He was still handsome, but somehow his sleekness was missing, and not just because his hair was a mess and he had an almost gray five-o'-clock shadow. His shoulders were slumped and he looked just exhausted. Grace's instincts kicked in when she walked closer and climbed into bed behind him. She let her hands glide over his shoulders. Jack sucked in a sharp breath like he had almost forgotten about her again.

He leaned back against her and relished the feeling of her soft body pressed to his back. Grace closed her eyes and nudged her head against his like a cuddly kitten. She started purring almost unconciously as she ran her hands over his chest, feeling his hot skin underneath the soft fabric of his shirt.

“I'm seeing someone,” Jack whispered after a few moments and Grace stopped moving, didn't even breathe when the contents of his words seeped into her mind.Hadn't he said he had missed her and that he had never seen that bitch again? How could he be so cruel to her?

“I'm seeing a psychiatrist for my problems: anger managemant, my fear of abandonment, the fact that I will never gain my father's approval.”

Grace almost sobbed after hearing this. She buried her face in his neck and huffed a reliefed laugh. “Seems like a lot of work but a fault confessed is half redressed, as they say.”

Jack turned around and ran his hands up and down her arms. She snuggled closer to him and let him guide them down on the mattress. Jack closed his arms tightly around her before planting a soft kiss on the top of her head. “He also does couples therapy. And I think we should go to him together.”

“Before my Heat?”

“Depens on what you expect from this Heat.”

Grace narrowed her eyes and lifted her head off his chest once again. They were so close that they could feel each other's breath ghost over their skins. It was warm and cozy and simply what she had needed to feel protected again. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what do you want? Are you still on birth control?” Jack asked, cradling her face gently when she nodded.

“But I'll have to get new ones tomorrow.”

“No, you don't,” Jack answered, looking even more nervous then he sounded, and made her look up to his face with a confused expression.

“Why, did you get me new ones already?” she snickered, trying to lighten the mood, “Dr Olivier didn't want to examine me again?”

“No, I mean, no new pills.” Grace lifted her eyebrows with a slight flutter coming to life in her chest. ”I ...I want to risk something,” he stuttered and stroked his finger tips over her flat belly, I mean, only if you want it too. I know it sounds crazy so soon after we've been seperated, but -”

He was moving with the speed of light it seemed. Grace stared up at him with wide eyes.

“Do you know why I came into your office that day?” she interrupted him instead of answering him. Jack shook his head no, avoiding her eyes remembering the day he had thrown away everything he'd had. “I wanted to ask you to claim me. I had read that things are often bumpy when you're unclaimed, and I wanted to make it work.”

Jack felt new shame creep up his neck, tinting his cheeks a bright red. She had tried moving things forward when he had turned everything to ash. But her words and the fact that she was here and wasn't telling him that he was crazy for even suggesting ''risking something'' also let him hope that her answer might be yes. The slight flutter of butterflies woke in his stomach the longer she was still laying in his arms.

“I want to be happy with you, my mate. I want a family with you, Grace,” he whispered and leaned his forehead against hers.

Grace cradled his face with her hands and directed his eyes to look into hers. She smiled up at him and finally answered, “But not four children and three dogs, okay?”

Maybe it was her upcoming Heat or just the realization that he had suffered from her absence at least as much as she had, but she wanted to start new with Jack. She loved him and he loved her. Otherwise he wouldn't propose starting a family and claiming. After turning his back at his allmighty family she was all he had and he was clearly all she had.

His face lit up with relief when the meaning of her answer dawned to him and dipped his head down to kiss her smiling lips. Grace threaded her fingers into his hair and pulled him even closer.

God, she loved him so much. But suddenly her euphoria got a heavy blow from the side and she stopped moving her lips with his. Jack noticed the change and leaned his head up again.

“What's wrong?”

“I'm not sure I can consent to this,” she whispered horrified. She wanted him, she wanted to have his children, be his mate forever ...but what if her hormones were the ones in charge now, overruling her rational mind?

Jack frowned deeply. “When did you enter PreHeat?”

“Yesterday.”

“Means today is your second day and according to the latest verdict of the US Supreme Court, Omegas are able to consent until four days before they enter the hot phase of their Heat.”

“You did your homework,” Grace chuckled and ran her fingers through his hair. She had missed the silky of it feeling so much.

“I googled it when you were changing. After what you said about ''never saying no'' I ...I wanted to make sure I didn't rape my own wife.”

“That's not what I had meant, Jack. I'm sorry.”

“No, please,” he objected, “this is on me. I wasn't attentive enough to read your body language or the alternations in your scent. I wasn't there for you and took for granted what you did for me. I was so stupid.”

She kissed him again, so make him shut up at least until they had to gasp for air again.

“I love you, Grace.” It was nothing but a whisper between them but it held so much meaning.

“I love you too.”

They fell asleep within mere minutes, hugging each other and feeling at home for the first time in months.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Jack woke before her. It had hardly ever happened during their marriage. Now it was the best that could've happened. Grace had her face buried in his chest, breathing regularly, being fast asleep. She looked absolutely beautiful. The best Christmas present he could've ever wished for but never dared to hope for, his wife was back and willing to stay.

He watched her while the winter sun slowly rose above the leaveless trees outside the windows, painting everything a warm rosé color. Jack was mortally afraid that she might wake up and find that she had changed her mind again. He was sure he wouldn't be able to survive if she left him again. Suddenly he remembered that his mother wanted to speak with her this afternoon. He couldn't let her leave again. Jack was almost certain that his mother wouldn't chase her away... unless she came on his father's behalf to tell her she wasn't welcomed in their family after what happened yesterday.

Well, he wasn't welcome there anymore either so, maybe it would make cutting the last strings even easier if his mother also turned against Grace.

“Good morning,” he heard and snapped out of his thoughts. Grace looked up at him with a sleepy smile and still heavy eyelids.

“Merry Christmas.”

She needed a moment to remember the date and smiled even wider when she returned the holiday greetings.

“How did you sleep?”

“Better than in months. My sister's house was just one chaotic, noisy place. Way too many people who didn't like each other.”

“Sounds like hell,” Jack murmured and took a deep breath of her scent.

“It was. I'm so glad to be home again.”

Grace snuggled closer and let out a long sigh, relishing the feeling of his warm, soft hands stroking up and down her back.

“My mother wants to speak with you today.”

She immediately tense up and brought a bit of distance between them to be able to look into his eyes. “What am I supposed to tell her?”

“The truth. I no longer care what my family thinks about us. All I care about is you and that you're happy.”

Grace bit her lower lip, thinking hard. “Are you sure you want to turn your back on them? As someone who has little to no family left, I think you shouldn't burn all bridges to them. They're all the family you have and I would want our children to get to know at least Rick and Nina.”

“I don't want to cause Rick any problems because he's still in contact with the family's black sheep. I know it won't be easy to leave everything behind and maybe we'll hear from them through cards for birthdays or holidays. I mean I would love to spend time with them but... well. Maybe it will just need some time. Let everything cool down, maybe let one or two funerals go by before showing my face there again.”

Grace only let out an unsure noise and shook her head involuntarily. “Waiting for funerals doesn't seem right.”

“It's not but it helps reminding people of the really important things in life, Grace.”

That was true and she had to give him, that he seemed like the man she would've really fallen for if they had only been honest with each other. She disentangled herself from his embrace and leaned up on her elbow over him. She lay her free hand over the center of his chest and concentrated on his heartbeat for a moment before talking again.

“I want us to be dead honest with each other. No more holding back, no more keeping emotions from each other, not like we really could once we're bond, but still.”

“I want you to tell me what you want and need, Grace,” he intrrupted her and lay his hand over hers, “I don't want you to feel unloved because I didn't pick up your micro signs. I'm just not good at that but I don't want you to hurt.”

“I was taught that Alphas know what Omegas need,” she whispered and interlaced her hand with his.

“I wasn't taught what Omegas need, Grace, I didn't know what you need and I know I had plenty of time to ask, read, learn, but I was too busy with the wrong things. I had to get my priorities straight and you are my number one now. You and the family we'll have.”

A few hours later which they mostly spent lounging in bed until they moved downstairs to make brunch together, they heard the doorbell and Grace immediately tensed up, knowing what was about to happen.

Jack swallowed thickly, feeling something similar to fear when he moved over to the entrance door. When he saw not only his mother but also his father waiting in front of the glass door, he froze. That's not how this was supposed to go. It was true, he had pretty much cut all strings connecting him with his allmighty family but he still would've wanted to avoid confrontation with his father for as long as possible.

He took a deep breath to steady himself and let them in, knowing he couldn't just let them stand out there in the cold until they would eventually leave. After all his father was over 70. When they entered the house it seemed like the temperature dropped 10 degrees. Jonathan ignored his son completely while helping his wife out of her coat and Jack asked what he was doing here.

“He's doing what every Alpha is doing, John, he's accompaning his Omega. That's custom.”

“Sounds like I was a threat for my mother, or what's that supposed to mean?” Jack snapped and crossed his arms over his chest. This was going to be a terrible Christmas.

“No, John, but it's what mates do. Where is Grace?”

“Waiting in the living room for you, Mum.” He put extra emphasis on the last word to make clear that he didn't want his father here or anywhere close to Grace. But Jonathan didn't care. He walked past his son with Diana into the living room.

Grace stood next to the armchair with panicked eyes when she saw her father-in-law entering the room after his wife. Jack was the last one to come in. He walked over to Grace immediately, taking her hand and positioning himself slightly between his parents and her.

“I would like to speak with you, Grace,” Diana began when she had made herself comfortable on the couch. Jonathan sat down beside her and draped his arm around her shoulders. It was a small, but telling gesture of protection. As much as Jack wanted to seperate Grace from them, he wanted to keep his mate safe from their own son. Trust was definitely an issue in this trainwreck of a family.

Diana smiled at Grace who fidgeted with the hem of her comfortable shirt and nodded to signal that she could continue.

“Please, sit down. This won't be over within a few minutes.”

Grace looked at the unmoving, hard face of her father-in-law and then up to Jack's. She chewed the inside of her cheek before sitting down on the armchair, feeling Jack's hands on her tense shoulders the whole time.

“Now, what do you want?” she asked her parents-in-law and just wanted this to be over. The room was simmering with tension and the potential to snap at any moment.

“How do you feel?”

“Nervous, nauseous.”

“I remember feeling like that meeting my parents-in-law for the first time too. So that's nothing to worry about. But I actually meant how do you feel being back with John after your seperation.”

Jack's heart dropped into his stomach. How on earth had they found out? His father glared at Jack for a moment before letting his gaze focus on Grace again. God, it felt like he was about to stab her with his eyes only.

“How... how do you know I was gone?” Grace stuttered and reached up to her shoulder to hold Jack's hand for support. Diana huffed and exchanged a look with her husband.

“Your brother told us when he was in hospital thanks to you,” Jonathan answered in Diana's stead.

“Rick told you?!” Jack would've never thought that his little brother would rat him out to their parents. So much for keeping secrets!

“Of course he did, John. You needed help and nobody knew where your wife was.”

“She could've died because you didn't see it necessary to inform any of us,” Jonathan growled deeply and shook his head disappointed.

“Oh, so you could tell me what a failure I am? That I couldn't keep my wife by my side and that that's just another point on my fuck-up list?”

“If you had told us, you would've received discrete help in finding her. Instead you killed your brother!”

Diana placed a hand on her husband's knee and purred for a split second, calming her mate down a bit. They weren't here to argue about the past but to figure things out for the future. Grace squeezed Jack's hand in the silent hope that it would bring him down too.

“We're here to ask you about your plans together,” Diana continued with her course and smiled at Grace to encourage her to talk.

“I don't know why that should be any of your concern. You never wanted to get to know me while I was there so why are you interested in me now?”

“That's not true, Grace.”

“Of cours it is. The only time we spoke was at your birthday celebration when your husband interrupted us rudly to yell at Jack and your friend or sister or whoever dragged you away as soon as possible.”

“You kept to yourself the whole time. I was waiting for an invitation to see your infamous garden Richard told us about, but you never wanted to get to know us. We sent you plenty of invitations.”

“You were talking above my head, looking down on me, and you let your daughter insult me without doing anything about it.”

“So you did something about it yesterday,” Jonathan growled through clenched teeth.

“We talked about this, Jonathan, we're not talking about yesterday.” Diana gave her husband a hard look and squeezed his knee once again. Jack copied her gesture on Grace's hand and shoulder. What had happened yesterday had been the unloading of all the messed up feelings roaming through her chest. It hadn't been her fault.

“Grace, you didn't want to get to know us and from what we saw between you and John didn't give us a positive impression. You looked unhappy and we were honestly expecting a divorce before your first Heat.”

“Well, we won't get divorced. We want a family together and the way it is now, you won't be part of that part of our life,” Jack told them with a steady, confident voice. He was determined to protect _his_ family from the unreachable high standards of his father and the almost painful silence his mother surrounded herself with when her husband spoke. They had never argued in front of their children, only once or twice Diana had made her displeasure known when somebody else was in the room with them. An argument just didn't belong into the public, especially not when the family name was Hunter.

“You have always been a disappoitment,” Jonathan hissed and received the first glare from his mate Jack had every seen.

“Maybe you should wait outside for a moment,” she suggested and waited until he was outside the living room before she continued, “please reconsider that, John. We are your family.”

“A family that consists of liars, angry patriarchs and unloving mothers by the looks of it. You are all playing roles, forgetting what's the truth and hurting each other when one is not remembering the correct line.”

Diana narrowed her eyes at Grace. “And what about your family, Grace? Is yours perfect and loving?”

“No,” she replied and swallowed thickly, “my family is non-existent. My mother is in a coven, my sister is... terrible, and my father is dead. You are the only family I have left and you wanted me out from day one. Why? Because my father didn't make 4 mio dollar a year? Because I wasn't young enough for your taste?”

“Because we didn't know you, Grace. Because you're a stranger and the first thing that comes up when one googles your name is the story of your sister's rebellion and disappearance. You are not to blame for that but in our circles the reputation and image at of utmost importance.”

“Facades, nothing more,” Jack snorted.

“Yes, facades we need to keep up.”

“Or what?” Grace argued, becoming defensive because she was not her sister and she would _not_ let Annabelle destroy her life.

“Or everyone suffers under it.” Her eyes shortly lifted to Jack's face but only for a split second. “However, I still want to know about your future plans. I can smell that you are close to another Heat, maybe even in Pre-Heat already.”

“We'll use this Heat for Claiming and to start a family of our own,” Jack stated like it was set in stone, “And until you all start to get your priorities straight, I will no longer be part of your family. You can all keep playing your parts but I'm done with that puppet theater.”

“That puppet theater is your mother, brother, sister, and me. I expect a little more respect from you,” Jonathan roared from the archway to the living room.

“And what about the lack of respect you showed towards Grace? Are you still not able to say her name?” Jack retorted and lifted his eyebrows defiantly.

“Alright, I think this is enough. We said, what we wanted to say-”

“You didn't say anything, other than that I'm bad for your image and that you blame me for keeping to myself when all I received from you was silence, from him I got snorts, and your daughter openly insulted me. Why should I want to get to know you?”

“Because I am the only mother you have right now and claiming is not as easy as it seems,” Diana replied and looked almost sympatheticly at Grace. She had to realize that Diana was right. She was the only mother figure around her but that didn't mean that she had to like her.

“What do you mean, claiming isn't easy?” Jack wanted to know and furrowed his brows in confusion. He would have to read himself into the topic before actually doing it but hearing it from someone who was actually claimed, respectively, had claimed his mate might not be the worst idea.

Jonathan sat back down next to his mate and put his arm back around her when she started talking, “You, Grace, will not have to do anything but a Claiming Heat is not how you know your previous Heats went. It will be much shorter, and much, much more exhausting.”

Grace swallowed thickly and grabbed Jack's hand with both of hers while listening. Jonathan nodded, remembering their Claiming Heat and continued listening to his mate, “The bite on your neck is technically a wound and that sets your body in alert-mode. You, John, will have to take extra care of her.”

And here Jonathan took over. “When you claim her, make sure it's the last possible moment before her Heat. That makes it easier for her cycle. It will hurt her but only for a few seconds before she'll lose conscience.”

“What?” Grace breathed, slightly shocked. They had hardly ever spoke about the actual step-by-step coordinations of Claiming in school, only ever that Claiming is ultimate and shouldn't be rushed into.

“Don't freak out. You'll just be completely overwhelmed by every sound and scent around you. John, you'll dress her wound and.. how long was I gone before my Claiming Heat began?” Diana asked and turned towards her mate.

“An hour, not longer, although it felt like forever because I was worried about you.”

Jack listened carefully, letting every word etch itself into his brain to make sure he didn't mess this up.

“And after that Heat you'll probably feel like you both need to sleep for a few days. But it's almost certain that you'll be pregnant after this. I sincerely hope that you'll at least inform us if we have a granddaughter or a grandson, Grace.”

Diana took a deep breath and almost looked like she was fighting against tears. Jonathan closed his arm tighter around her shoulders and kissed her temple before suggesting they leave now because they still had to visit their other children.

Jack brought them to the door, ignored his father completely and thanked his mother for at least trying to get closer. It was clear to all of them that the problems between them wouldn't be solved within an afternoon. Mending the broken pieces he used to call family would take at least a few years, but the first step was made and every way had to start with a single first step.

 


	43. Emily

Jack and Grace didn't visit his psychiatrist for couples therapy. Not because they thought they didn't need it, just because they didn't have the time.

The most important thing for them at the moment was getting all the soul food they could get to build up reserves for the Claiming Heat. It was strange to be so close together again after being alone for so long. Grace found herself in his arms for hours when they lounged on the couch or in bed, just reading next to each other or watching tv. Jack helped her cooking the delicious food he had missed so much and spent his whole time with her. Needless to say that she loved it!

“Do you want to help me build the nest or was the first time too traumatic?” Grace asked three days before her Heat would slide into the hot phase. She was giving herself less time to build the nest this time, knowing now from experience which material she needed and how to arrange it for both of them.

“If you let me, I'll help you. I liked it.”

Grace snorted and arched her eyebrows at him. She stopped stirring the thick, delicious potato soup and watched him turn down the heat for the bacon bits. The smells in the kitchen were just mouth watering.

“Didn't seem like it and I was really mad at you when you wouldn't let me rearrange it.”

“I know, you ignored me for the next day,” he laughed and turned towards her, “But I loved building the nest, knowing that I could help you with this. And I definitely want to help you build it now that we are going to make a baby in said nest.”

Grace couldn't keep from smiling like the cheshire cat. She had never been this happy in her life, at least not in the last couple of years. Jack pulled her closer and roamed his hands over her body. She had already put on some weight for the Heat and he loved every inch of her curvy hips and heavy breasts, knowing that in a few months time _his_ child would be suckling on them to become strong and healthy.

Suddenly his phone rang, Rick's customized ringtone, he noticed and furrowed his brows. Jack hadn't expected to hear from his little brother for at least a couple of months, which hurt like hell, but hearing the annoying rightone made him worry. Maybe something had happened to their parents or Nina?

“Hey, Jack, happily back together with your wife?” Rick's voice chimed on the other end of the line. Okay, maybe his parents and Nina were fine and Rick had simply lost his mind calling his outcast brother.

“Ehm, yeah. We were just talking about her Heat. Why the fuck are you calling?”

“And Merry Christmas to you too, Jack. Jesus, just because you are having beef with Dad-”

“Having beef?” Jack cut him off and huffed a humorless laugh, “I'm out, Rick, and I'm fucking fuming because you couldn't keep your mouth shut about Grace's disappearance.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry about that.”

Jack licked along the inside of his teeth and waited what else Rick had to tell him. Grace watched him attentively, waiting for a hint why her brother-in-law was calling.

“What do you want?”

“I want to invite you two. I couldn't come to dad's party, although I heard that Grace and Emily clashed. I would've paid any price to see that.”

“Well, I saw it from the corner of my eye and my heart almost stopped. And I don't know if we should show up at your place. I don't want you to have ''beef'' with Dad because of me,” Jack murmured and scratched his growing beard. He had noticed how Grace seemed to enjoy stroking it so he had stopped shaving completely since she had returned.

“I'm a grown up and Dad can't hate both of his sons at the same time. C'mon, Jack. Nina wants to see Grace again, tell her about the good news, and I want to see you too.”

Jack let out a long sigh and asked Grace about her opinion before answering, yes.

 

* * *

 

A few hours later Grace nervously but excitedly stood in front of Rick's and Nina's door, waiting for one of them to open the door for them. Jack stood by her side, more nervous than excited and took deep, calming breaths.

“What are you afraid of?” Grace whispered and nudged his side with her elbow slightly.

“The loss of a loved one, the end of everything in existence, Donald Trump destroying the world, and flying. And you?” he babbled and smoothed his hands over his coat. The sound of her chuckle was soothing him like he had never thought possible. Just as he was about to kiss her deeply to thank her just for existing, the door before them and Nina appeared.

Grace was instantly staring at her baby bump and smiled broadly at her sister-in-law. She had missed Nina so much, her only ally for a long time. They hugged tightly, relishing in the closeness to another Omega, something primal and comforting.

“You look beautiful,” Grace complimented her and looked her up and down, the main focus still Nina's belly.

“And you look alive and, most importantly, happy. I'm so glad you came back. You should've seen Jack. He was-”

Jack cleared his throat to cut her off. “Yes, she knows what happened and I'd rather not think back. It's over.”

Nina nodded understandingly and waved them to come in. Rick was sitting in the living room with a phone in his hand and a smile on his face.

“Yeah, I know you worry, but you're overreacting... No, Edward, you don't have to come. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.”

As soon as he saw Grace entering the room he hung up and stood. “Merry belated Christmas and thank you for slapping Emily.”

Grace reddened in shame. It had felt so good to let out her built up anger but now she wished she had reacted differently. Losing it in front of everyone was another reason her father would've turned in his grave. Maybe with all that had happened it wasn't such a tragedy that Albert was already dead.

Jack lay his hand on the small of her back and stroked her gently with his thumb. “Yeah, about that... Can we not talk about this?”

“But I had secretly hoped to get a replay of it tonight,” Nina smirked and sat down on the couch again.

“Emily is coming too?” Grace asked shocked and felt the urge to run out of the door likethe house was on fire.

“Well, I wanted to celebrate Christmas with my family, so, yes.”

“Are Mum and Dad coming too?” Jack hissed and curled his free hand into a tight fist. His little brother hadn't just betrayed his trust by snitching him out to their parents but also by tricking him to come here today. When none of them said a word, he had his answer.

“Great, Merry Christmas and goodbye.”

He turned on his heel and wanted to pull Grace with him when he felt her resistance. She bit her lower lip and looked up at him.

“You seriously want to stay here with them already on their way?”

“We can still leave when they arrive.”

She was right and he knew it. With a long sigh he gave in and nodded. Once they were all settled on the couches, Grace and Nina started talking about children, siblings, and the future.

“So, ehm, is it Philipp's? I guess, it's a very personal question but-”

“No, Philipp left me,” Nina confessed and looked down to the hands on her lap, “I couldn't have his baby because if it is a Beta Rick's family would know immediately that it's not his. I'll spare you the details but conceiving during my Heat was... a family project.”

“I'm sorry to hear Philipp left you. I thought, he would understand.”

“Yes, me too, but evidently we were all wrong.” She smoothed her hand over her belly. “But I gotta say that feeling my baby inside me, growing and moving, is the best thing ever. And I know Rick will be a great father.”

“Will you be honest with them? That Rick and Edward are a couple?”

“We don't know yet. We don't want them to blurt out what's going on in front of Rick's parents.”

“I can imagine that it will be very difficult.”

Nina nodded and pressed her lips to a thin line. “Yes, but we can't get out of the family like you do. Rick and Edward are dependant on the company. They never worked for anyone else like Jack did.”

“Trust me, it's not easy for us either.”

Jack didn't really listen to them. He was too occupied holding his wife close and glaring at his little brother.

“Can you stop that already?” Rick growled after a couple of minutes of avoiding Jack's eyes.

“Why? Feeling your bad conscience?”

“Jack, you know why he did it,” Nina tried to calm the tension in the room.

“I know, he still broke a promise.”

Grace lay her hand soothingly on his knee and let out the tiniest purr possible with her head on his shoulder. But what Rick had done had left a scar as deep as the Grand Canyon. Before this they had been able to talk about everything, knowing their parents, especially their father, would never hear a single word of it but that time was over now.

Just as he was about to get loud and let out all the words he wanted to throw at Rick's head, the door bell rang. Rick almost ran to the door to get away from Jack. After hearing his sister's voice from the door complaining about the cold weather, Jack closed his eyes and stood up.

“Time for us to leave,” he announced and held out his hand for Grace. She nodded and stood as well, smoothing her dressskirt down and smiling sadly at Nina, knowing that they would possibly not see each other for a couple of years to avoid stress in the family.

“What the fucking hell is she doing here?” Emily screeched from the door and glared daggers at Grace.

“We were just about to leave. You don't have to blow up,” Jack sneered and pushed his wife towards the door.

“Are you running away again? Huh. Typical,” Emily hissed and shook her head with a huff. That's when Jack finally had enough. Stealing away before his parents arrived was bad enough but Emily always had to go the extra mile.

“I have to sort something out before we go,” he whispered into Grace's ear without letting Emily out of his sight. His wife only nodded and sat back down, too transfixed on the miffed expression on Nicolas' face to really react. Instead of sitting down on the same couch as before, she moved over to Nina and slid up tightly beside her, hoping that would save her from the emeny in the room.

Jack stormed towards Emily and pulled her out of the room with him. Nicolas stared at his brother-in-law but Lily was distracting him enough to let him stay in the living room. Grace wasn't happy to be alone but she didn't stay so for long.

Suddenly Cate sat down next to Grace and smiled broadly at her. She would've never expected her to still be friendly towards her after what had happened at the Christmas party.

“Are you sure you should sit this close to me? I don't want your mother to get mad again,” Grace whispered and stared at the door Jack and Emily had disappeared through.

“Mum is always mad, that has nothing to do with you. Plus, I am a teenager and pissing off my family is what I do.” The cheeky grin on Cate's face actually managed to ease the tension in Grace's shoulders just a little but still enough to give her the trust she needed to be braver and actually talk to her.

 

“Let go of me!” Emily hissed and tried to twist her wrist out of her brother's grasp.

“Why do you hate me so much?” he growled and let go of her arm when they were far enough away from the others. He was so done with her bitchy attitude. This had to stop at some point and he should've made it stop before Grace had even entered his life.

“Because you deserve it.”

“Why, Emily? Why the fuck am I the source of all evil in your eyes? I'm your older brother! Shouldn't you have at least a fraction of respect for me?”

Emily almost looked disgusted by his words and shook her head in absolute resent. “My older brother? You play that card after years of ignoring me, being an asshole to me, and not even having the decency to be there for me, once?”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Childish pranks when we were kids, or what? Shouldn't you be over that by now?”

“YOU WEREN'T THERE FOR ME!” it suddenly burst out of her, the volume making Jack wince. He stared at her with a mixture of shock and astonishment. He had heard her hiss and snarl at every possible person but she never screamed. And she definitely never had tears filling her eyes.

Emily looked towards the far end of the dark hallway and held a hand over her mouth, her fingers slightly shaking. Jack suddenly noticed old bruises around her wrist, already green and yellow instead of purplish-red. This wasn't his work. Somebody else had bruised his little sister and now she was afraid someone might've heard her? He had a dark suspicion what was going on.

“When wasn't I there for you, Emily?” he asked softly. In the back of his mind he wondered if he should extent his hand and pull her closer, but decided against it when she turned her head again and glared viciously.

“When I was ten years old, Mum and Aunt Jane brought me to my academy, and you had better things to do than to be there to say a simple goodbye to me. I knew, I wouldn't be home for the next six years and you chose to be anywhere but home, running around with you best friend _Alex_ again.” She spit out his name like it was poison burning holes in her guts. “And then when you celebrated your 18 th birthday, Mom and Dad were out on a business dinner the whole night and Rick was still at the bording school. And who sat in her room while you were drinking, laughing, and having fun downstairs. I had been back home for only a week then and you didn't even want me to celebrate your birthday with you!”

“You didn't want to celebrate with us. I fucking asked you!” Jack retorted, remembering very lively her snort and the shake of her head like she was too good to spend time with him now that she had been out of the academy again.

“You didn't want me there with your friends and pals! I could see it in your face! You never liked me! I was always a nuisance for you. Me leaving for the academy was the best thing that ever could've happened to you, wasn't it? You were finally rid of me!”

“You are my little sister and I was a child! Of course I wasn't thrilled to spend time with you and you always ratted me out on Dad whenever you were bored or had nothing else to do.”

“Jack, I only ever wanted to be close to you! Be with my big brother, feel protected and share my thoughts and feelings with you but I was never allowed to play with you boys! Do you even know how much I begged Mum and Dad to have another baby and make it a girl this time so that I could have someone to play teaparty with?!”

“And you hate me because of that? Because I was a normal boy and wanted to play in the mud or kick some balls with my friends.”

“With _Alex_ , it was always him,” Emily hissed and wrapped her arms around her middle as if she was freezing. Her sleeve rode up her arm and reveiled more of her old bruises. Some further up her arm were still red.

“Alex is my best friend,” Jack retorted and crossed his hands over his chest defiantly.

She let out a humorless laugh and heavy tears suddenly hung from her dark lashes but she wouldn't let herself cry. He was the reason everything had went wrong in her life. She swallowed against the thick lump in her throat and continued talking, “He was staying over on your birthday. The only one in the house next to us.”

Jack didn't know where this was going and what Alex suddenly had to do with this but he listened quietly. He hadn't done this enough in the last years and seeing his bratty bitch of a sister almost bursting out in tears made him extra attentive.

“After midnight I got thirsty and I just wanted to get a bottle of water from the fridge. Your friends had left already, except for one, of course. You lay face down on the kitchen table, snoring like a sailor but no Alex in sight. I went back upstairs and, hey, there he was. In. My. Bed.”

Jack slightly shook his head. He had been drinking like there was no tomorrow on his birthday. His first real blackout. But he still couldn't believe that Alex had been in her bedroom. Why?

“I told him to go but he wouldn't listen. He slurred something about riding unicorns for the first time. He pinned me down on the bed and...” Emily's voice turned heavy and she ignored the tears that were now slowly running down her cheeks. “I screamed for you, that night, to pull him off of me. But you didn't come to save me, you just walked past my open door, looked at him on top of me and directly into my eyes, before just walking away.”

“I don't remember any of this,” Jack whispered shocked.

“ARE YOU SAYING I'M LYING?!”

“No,” Jack lifted his hands and hoped to soothe her at least a little like this, “I'm saying I was completely drunk. I don't even know how I got to bed that night. I had assumed Alex had helped me up the stairs.”

“No, he was too busy grunting like an animal when he raped me,” Emily hissed and moved even closer to him, “You destroyed my life when you brought this bastard into our home. I was damaged. Mom and Dad had to accept the first Alpha who showed an interest in me.”

“Did they know?”

“Who do you think brought me to the hospital the next morning? It definitely wasn't you.”

“Emily, I didn't know,” Jack breathed, completely shocked, “Do you really think I would've let him do this to you? Emily, you're my little sister. You annoyed me, yes, but I never would've wanted this.”

He extended his hands and grabbed her by the upper arms but let go immediately when she hissed in pain.

“What's wrong?”

Emily pulled down her sleeves again and wiped her cheeks clean. “What? Now you care? Well done, Jack, you finally found your brotherly feelings. And it's been only twenty years since I already have to endure this monster you forced upon me.”

She prepared to leave him standing without another comment but suddenly stopped and new tears blinded her. On the other end of the hallway stood Grace with her eyes wide and mouth open. She had heard everything, had followed them after only two minutes because she had felt uneasy without him. Now she almost wished she had stayed with Cate and Nina on the couch.

“Have you been eavesdropping again,” Emily hissed and glared at her sister-in-law with cold, but bloodshot eyes.

Grace only shook her head and looked at Jack who had to lean against the wall for support. No wonder his whole family hated him when he had been the cause of so much suffering, his own too, because without him Nicolas would've never been part of their family and company. He had failed his little sister, the first one he should've protected and he had failed her miserably.

He repeated over and over again that he hadn't known and that he was sorry. Emily didn't even listen to him anymore.

“Leave him,” Grace said after she and Emily had stared at each other for a few silent moments.

“I can't, you stupid brat, he's my mate. You can't leave your mate.”

“Of course you can. He is a monster, you just said it yourself. Cate told me he hurts you. Do you want to wait until he turns against your daughters.”

“He would never hurt them.”

“Just like he would never hurt his mate? Emily, leave him.”

She shook her head and wiped her cheeks clean as she came closer. “You have no idea, but give clever advice where nobody asked. Shut your mouth and keep your nose out of my business.”

Emily returned into the living room to play her role as the loving mate and mother again, leaving Jack and Grace alone. She immediately hurried over to him, gathering him in her arms.

“It wasn't your fault,” she whispered into his ear, knowing exactly that he was blaming himself.

“Of course, it is. I should've protected her.”

“You didn't know. You were young.”

“She was young too.”

“But you didn't tell him to go rape her. You didn't tell her to marry Nicolas.”

“But I am the reason she was forced to accept him,” he argued, pushing her slightly back to look into her eyes, “Can you imagine taking the first Alpha you met? I was the fifth you dated, wasn't I? Emily didn't get this chance because of me.”

Grace cradled his face in her hands and kissed him, hoping it would comfort him at least a little. He had received so many blows in the last couple of months and now this knockout punch right in the guts.

“Let's go home.”

Jack nodded with his eyes closed. He felt drained and tired. They had actually wanted to spend the night in Grace's house, because they planned on moving there after the Claiming and Heat. Their current home held too many bad memories and they wanted a new beginning with everything that came with it. That included a change of scene as well. But tonight they needed the comfort of their home.

They didn't say goodbye before they left. Jack slid behind the steering wheel without starting the engine for a long moment, completely buried in his gloomy thoughts until he felt Grace's hand on his arm.

“It wasn't your fault, Jack. Your parents picked him, not you. Alex hurt her, not you.”

“I hurt you,” he replied and swallowed thickly.

Grace hurt now, for him. He had been told his entire life that he was the oldest son and that he had to live up to his family's expectation but he had been doomed to fail since his 18th birthday. This day had proven her once again, that these people should never become part of their new life.

“Let's just so home and only think of the next two weeks. We'll have a baby by then. We'll be mates then.”

“Are you sure you still want to be my mate?” he asked in a thin voice and lifted his tired eyes up at hers.

She only gave him one of her smiles, an honest one he was sure, and moved over to kiss him softly. “Of course, I am. I love you, Jack.”

 


	44. The bloody end

“I love you too.”

“With that said, let's go home and finally build our nest,” Grace suggested and smiled at her husband softly. He couldn't wait to be home again and turn off his phone. Maybe he should throw it away to make sure nobody from his old life could contact him like this. No family, no friends.

Just as Jack was about to turn the key in the ignition, they heard a piercing scream from inside the house. His instincts kicked in and without thinking twice, he stormed out of the car and back into his brother's house.

Nina and Rick held a shaking Cathy and a crying Lily, staring shocked into the living room where the screams came from, Emily's shrieking screams. Jack hurried past them and stopped in his tracks when he finally saw what was going on. Emily sat on Nicolas' chest, covered in blood and still holding the long, blood-dripping knife in her hands. It was half way buried in her husbands throat. He coughed up blood right into Emily's face before stopped moving at all. His fists relaxed and his twitching legs became completely still. Jack heard the shocked gasp behind him, finally woke from his stupor and cautiously moved over to Emily.

“What have you done, Emily?” he whispered, knealing down next to her and carefully reaching out his hand to take the knife from her trembling hand.

“He slapped Lily. I didn't want to tell him what we talked about. He shouldn't have slapped her. He was getting mad. She was just asking for a Christmas cookie,” Emily babbled, breathing heavily and wiping some blood away that dripped from her forehead.

“No, he shouldn't have. Give me the knife, okay? He can't slap Lily anymore.” Jack didn't know why he could remain so calm when he knelt next to a bloody body and a murderess. Emily lifted her gaze to her brother's face. She looked like a child with her wide eyes and pale skin under the unnaturally red blood splatter. Jack moved his hands around the handle of her murder weapon and loosened her fingers. She didn't put up much resistence.

“Is he dead?” Emily asked in a thin voice. She didn't look down to the lifeless body under her, only searched her brother's eyes for an answer. When he nodded, she breathed a silent, “Oh... good.”

“How about you get off of him, huh? We're gonna call the police and tell them what happened.”

“Can we all Dad too?”

Jack looked past her and over to Rick. “He is on his way already, right?”

Rick nodded and swallowed thickly. He looked as pale as a dead man himself. Hopefully, he wouldn't pass out before the police and the ambulance got here. Nobody moved a finger to call any of them until Grace shook her head, like she was waking from a daydream, and started searching the living room for a phone.

Jack managed to lure Emily away from Nicolas' body and the knife still stuck in his flesh. He gestured for Nina to bring the girls out of the house so that they wouldn't have to see their father like this a second longer. He had been a bastard, but still their father.

Jack thought about pulling Emily in his arms to soothe her but decided that he should stick to holding her ice-cold hands.

“I called the police and told them what happened. They'll bring an ambulance too,” Grace announced in a soft voice and sat down next to Jack and Emily. The way she was positioned, her sister-in-law could no longer see Nicolas.

“How do you feel?” she asked and carefully lay a hand on Emily's upper arm.

“Empty,” she breathed and swayed lighty, “Dead.”

She hadn't just killed her husband, but also her mate, the one person that was closer to her than even family ever could be. Grace had heard at Woodlark that when a mate died, the other often suffered from severe depression and ended their life unnaturally early. She had worried about her mother, who still hadn't sent her any new letters or messenges. Now she was faced with an Omega who had killed her own mate, a monster but still her mate.

Almost unconsciously, Grace started stroking her hand up and down Emily's arm and began to purr. Jack looked at her with raised eyebrows but didn't say anything.

“Where are Cate any Lily? They shouldn't see their father like this,” Emily gasped and suddenly looked absolutely worried. It was like she was getting back together piece by piece the more time she had to comprehend what she had just done.

“Nina brought them outside.”

“Good.” Emily nodded slowly. “Do you think I can see them when I'm in prison?”

“We don't know if you'll go to prison,” Jack answered, not wanting to believe that anyone would lock her away. Not after what he had heard today. “He hurt you and he turned against your daughter. You snapped.”

“It's your motherly instincts that drove you to do this,” Grace whispered and moved her hand to stroke over Emily's wet, red hair.

Just then, they heard familiar, angry voices from the entrance door. Rick held his mother back in the hallway while Jonathan barged in and found his son-in-law laying in the middle of his own blood in the living room.

“What the hell happened here?” he gasped and turned his head away from the body, “What have you done, Jack?!”

“Nothing,” he replied with a growl and glared at his father, “Emily did this. Ask Rick or Nina, if you don't want to believe me.”

Seconds later, blue light illuminated the scene and police officers and EMTs entered the house. Jack took it as a sign to back off and let the professionals take over now.

What happened afterwards was one single rush. Cops asked questions, EMTs examined Nicolas and, when they recorded his death, eventually turned towards Emily who had a shock. Jack held Grace's hand while they had to make their first statement before they were released to go home at last.

“Where will Cate and Lily stay now?” Grace wanted to know when they were in front of the house again and saw their nieces sitting by Diana in their car.

“My parents will take care of them, I assume. We are the last people they would give them to, especially so close to your Heat.” He stopped and turned towards her, taking her hands in his. “Are you okay?”

“I... I guess. I mean, it's not something I will forget any time soon.” She stroked her thumbs over his still bloody hands and added in a whisper, “I've never seen a dead person before.”

“Yeah, not a pleasant sight,” he agreed and remembered finding Margot's dead body almost 20 years ago. He would never forget the sight of her empty stare and pale skin. He looked over his shoulder back to the house where the police still spoke with Emily and everyone waited for CSU to come and document the crime scene. A terrible thing to call one's home a crime scene. Jack was suddenly aware that his house had seen death too, twice.

“Can we spend the night in your old home?” he asked, still looking at the house and swallowing thickly.

“Sure, but what about the nest?”

Jack closed his eyes. He had almost forgotten about the nest. They couldn't delay it any longer, although he was sure they wouldn't build it tonight before going to bed. It was already close to midnight and he really couldn't bring himself to muster the energy for such an important task.

“We'll go home and build the nest first thing tomorrow morning, alright?” he suggested and waited for her nod. Grace even smiled and squeezed his hands. They were uncharastically cold for an Alpha. He was under shock as well. His whole family lay in ruins and he was still trying to tell himself that he could turn his back on them. He would have to, at least for the next couple of days.

Grace was the one driving them home. She was secretly reliefed that Nicolas was dead. He had deserved punishment, even though Emily had hurt herself at least as much as her children in order to protect them from their father.

This will never happen to us, Grace thought to herself over and over again, and she couldn't even say how happy she was about that simple fact.

Once they were home, Jack murmured that he needed a shower before going to bed. Grace shortly contemplated accompanying him but decided against it. Instead, she got some more pillows and blankets from the guest room closet, just to make their bed extra comfortable after the terrible day they had.

After a few minutes Jack returned, his gaze directed to the floor. His hair was still damp and his skin warm from the steaming hot shower he had needed to relax at least a bit. Once he sat down on the edge of the bed, Grace moved behind him and massaged his still tense shoulders as good as she could.

“This day was just horrible,” he sighed and leaned back against her, “I... I can't help thinking if I hadn't asked her and brought back all those memories. Maybe she wouldn't have done it.”

“Jack, you can't blame yourself for the actions of others,” Grace whispered into his ear and kissed him right below his earlobe. She purred for him as deeply as she could to make her whole body vibrate, “Let's try to sleep. Tomorrow, we'll have to build the nest and that will probably take up most of the day.”

He nodded and a few moments later, Grace lay in his arms in the dark and silent room. But none of them could sleep. No wonder, after the events of the day. His family had lost a member, no matter how hated Nicolas had been. His death left scars on innocent victims. Lily and Cate had lost their father today, Emily had lost her mate, and the company had lost their future leader. Jonathan Hunter would have to find someone new for this job and Jack would definitely not apply. At least that he knew. He would never work for or with his father again.

Grace could feel him think when she rested her head on his shoulder. She moved her hand to the center of his chest and played with the short curls there.

“Do you want to wait with the Claiming?” she asked silently. With everything that had happened, maybe he wanted to wait until everyone had calmed down again before burning old bridges and building new ones.

“I don't know. Everything is a mess right now. My family seems to collapse and I just walk away from the trainwreck.”

“You didn't cause this mess, Jack. Generations before you built up the name Hunter and demanded the ridiculously high standards, we suffered under. Nobody is perfect.”

He nodded slowly and tightened the arm around her. The feeling of her beating heart and regular breath help him ground himself in the here and now instead of drifting off into the darkness of his thoughts.

“I don't want them to think I left them in the worst crisis.”

“Why do you care what they think? They never showed you any consideration. Why do you have to protect them? They dug their own grave, Jack.” Maybe she sounded harsh but he couldn't blame himself for their downfall.

“I dug Emily's.”

Grace sat up halfway and leaned over him. “You didn't know about any of this. They didn't tell you to avoid a scandal but the scandal would have been on Alex' side not yours.”

“If it had become public, there would have been a trial and I guess they hadn't wanted to put Emily through this.”

“Still, not your fault.”

Only when he heard the determination in her voice, he moved his eyes to hers in the darkness. She looked just as determined as she sounded.

“Do you really want to be my mate? Even if we didn't leave this wasp nest behind us?”

Grace lay her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. “If we stay in their sphere of influence, then only as mates. That way I wouldn't have to worry they finally convinced you to file a divorce and get rid of the worst decision anyone ever made.”

“You're not a bad decision,” Jack whispered and shuffled closer to her, laying his hand on her wide hips, “You're the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Grace leaned down and kissed him sweetly. “But I still think that they don't deserve you. You are better than them... even Rick. After all, he sold us out to your parents and, even though they knew I was gone, they still didn't help you.”

“I guess, you're right,” he murmured and buried her nose in her hair once she was laying down again.

 

The next morning, Jack woke in an empty but still warm bed. She couldn't have left too long ago. Instead of panicking, Jack let out a heavy groan and asked himself, if he had only dreamt yesterday. When Grace appeared with a bunch of additional pillows and blankets. She dragged them behind her while not being able to look over the pillowtower in front of her nose.

“Need some help?” he asked sleepily and rubbed a hand over his tired face.

“Building it, yes.” Grace unloaded her arms onto the foot of the bed and revealed her red cheeks. She was already turning hotter. Every day closer to the hot phase of Heat, let her body temperature rise until she was literally burning. “I didn't make breakfast yet. Do you want to eat before we start?”

He nodded and got up. Jack didn't feel like talking today, so he mostly remained silent during their extensive breakfast. Grace wolfed down whatever she could get her hands on, no matter what. Jack only watched her from across the table, hoping she let him get at least a couple of bites as well. She didn't do it consciously, but she stole him more than just one pancake he was about to put on his plate.

“Aren't you hungry? Remember, this Heat will be as draining for you as it will be for me,” she reminded him with her mouth full of pan cake.

“I won't starve.” He gave her a lop-sided smile and moved his plate closer to her as an offer. He wasn't very hungry anyway. After finishing breakfast, they wordlessly moved upstairs to finally build their nest. It wasn't as desperate as the first time. Grace knew what she had to place where, how many times she needed to fold the blankets for the borders and which direction the pillows had to lay to make it the perfect fit.

She gave him short commands how to help her best. Grace moved around the bed at one point to show him exactly what she meant with ''fold in a triangle''. It wasn't really a triangle, just a diagonal fold. Jack smiled at her for the first time that day when her hands corrected his hold. They were so warm, it almost felt like she was having a fever.

A fever that would end with a baby on the way, he thought and pulled her closer to kiss her deeply, stealing her breath away.

“What was that for?”

“Existing,” he replied and kissed her again, “And chosing me all those months ago.”

Grace smiled broadly up at him and ghosted the pad of her forefinger over the wrinkle between his eyebrows.

“You look like your head is full with gloominess,” she whispered and her smile faltered slightly.

“Yesterday still sits in my bones.”

She nodded slowly and encircled his middle with her arms. “It's not your fault.”  
It was slowly becoming a mantra for him. Her soft voice telling him, he wasn't to blame for everything. Maybe he should start believing her. Jack returned her embrace and moved his hands down to her ass. Her giggle was what he was after and she gave it to him. A warm tingle spread through his entire body, thinking that thie gorgeous, funny, tender woman was going to be his for the rest of his life.

He let go of her as soon as he felt her move away.

“We'll be done with the nest earlier than expected. Any plans for when we're done?” she asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows and moved back around the bed, readjusting a corner of the top blanket.

“Have an early lunch? Call Rick to find out what will happen with Emily? Read some info on Claiming before I make a mortal mistake?”

Grace looked down to her nest in progress, already able to make out the oval shape and raised up edges to keep them safe and warm during their Heat.

“Sound like very good ideas. Especially, the one with Rick. I think, asking how Emily and her daughters are should still be allowed, even as the outcasts of the family.”

“I'm glad, you see it the same. I mean, I know I should leave them behind but-”

“They are still family, I know. Jack, I'm the first person to acknowledge that family is important. Even if they actually don't deserve any of your time anymore.”

With a reliefed, little smile, he nodded and finished the nest with her. He knew it would change over the two more days until the hot phase would start. Jack put much more effort into it than the first time. This was the nest they would start their own family in. He swore to himself with every pillow he fluffed up and every blanket he smoothed the wrinkles out, that he would never become like his father. His children should always feel safe around him, and content enough to tell him whatever they struggled with. He wanted his children to trust him.

When the nest looked just perfect and Grace had already thrown herself into it to test the feeling of it, Jack went downstairs to call Rick. The conversation lasted two minutes.

“How is Emily? How are the girls?” Jack asked concerned and leaned against the counters in the kitchen.

“Emily's in hospital and the girls will stay with Mum and Dad for a while, well, until Cate has to return to school that is.”

Jack nodded to himself. He had expected that. “Did you hear anything from the police yet?”

“They will question Emily as soon as she's better. The doctor says she shows signs of long-term abuse. Her arms and chest are full with bruises.”

Yes, he had seen them yesterday too. At least the ones on her arms. How could they all have missed it? He didn't hear Grace come downstairs too, so he jumped a little when her arms snaked around his waist from behind. All she did was holding him, but it was enough to calm his rising nausea and self-anger. His little sister had been hurting and everyone had been too blind to see. Grace was right. It wasn't his fault and he wouldn't let anyone tell him that it was. He couldn't decide the actions of other people, only his own and, although not being a saint, he hadn't deserved the treatment his parents gave him.

“What did Mum and Dad say when they found out we were at your little party?”

“They weren't amused but right now they have too much to do with the reporters camping in front of their house to snap a picture of the girls. Some officer must've slipped what happened yesterday. If you didn't watch TV yet, I'd advise you to keep it that way. Our name is all over the news. It's horrible.”  
“Thank you for the information,” Jack murmured and moved his free hand to rest over Grace's. He told his brother that they couldn't be contacted for the next week and wished him a Happy New Year in advance, although the word happy was almost a mockery.

“How is everyone?” Grace inquired as soon as Jack had hung up.

“Shattered,” he sighed and turned around in her embrace. Without a word, they went back into their bedroom, snuggled up in their perfect nest and Jack started searching Google for the correct way of Claiming but everything he found only unsettled him more. There seemed to be studies that Claiming before the birth of the first child could lead to miscarriages, others said that the Alpha couldn't really experience paternal feelings if the child was born before Claiming. Scientific papers discussed the perfect placement and depth of the initial bite to make the Claiming sustainable. After an hour he turned his phone off and threw it across the room, waking Grace in the process of it. She had slept with her head on his belly, now rubbing her eyes and looking across him to the clock on his bedside table.

“Research sucks,” Jack growled and played with a lock of her hair.

“Why?”

“Because every clever person has a different opinion and they all contradict one another. I'm more confused than I was before.”

Grace sat up and shook her head with a smile. “I know, you can make it. You only have to listen to your instincts. What do those clever people know about us anyway? Nothing. And so they shouldn't play any role in _our_ Claiming.”

She was right, again. Jack sat up and suddenly had a thought. “Can I claim you now? I don't want to wait another two days.”

Grace's eyes lit up, her smile almost split her face in half as she nodded. She was too far ahead to legally give her consent but they had agreed on the Claiming days before so he was sure she really wanted it. He pulled her in her arms and purred. Not because he had read it online, but because he wanted her to be as relaxed as possible.

“Ready?” Jack looked at her for a final time to see her nod. She confirmed their decision before she closed her eyes and leaned her head back, offering him her neck to claim. This was the moment of truth. He was going to claim her, the woman he loved more than anything. Jack would make her his for the rest of their lives.

His heart raced in his chest while she seemed to be totally calm in his arms. Why? How? She trusted him fully in this special moment, it shot through his head. Jack licked over his lips and took a deep breath. Hopefully, he wouldn't mess this up. He couldn't lose her. Thousands of Alphas before him had already claimed their mates. It couldn't be this hard, right?

“I love you,” he heard her sigh with closed eyes and it was all Jack needed. He opened his mouth and moved it closer to her neck. She smelled amazing, intoxicating, animalistic. Only one more deep inhale of her scent and he tore her skin with his canines.

Grace gasped lightly into his ear and grabbed him by the shoulders, not to push him away but because she felt like falling and needed to hold onto him. Her skin was burning, her lungs felt like she was under water, and her chest was close to exploding with her thudding heart trapped inside it. Grace dug her nails into his skin and her eyes opened widely. A few seconds felt like hours. She gasped for air like a fish on land.

Jack held her tightly, digging his teeth even deeper into her flesh, and tasting her sweet blood. As soon as his teeth had torn her skin, instincts had taken over. He knew, he was doing it right. His whole body tingled like it was falling asleep but it was slowly starting to change. Warmth pooled in his stomach, slowly dripping down lower to his crotch. The center of his chest suddenly clenched tightly and he let go.

Grace collapsed in the middle of the nest, blood running from the bite mark on her shoulder. Jack couldn't breathe for a moment but he knew he needed to take care of her Claiming mark before taking care of himself. He carefully wiped his saliva and her smeared blood from her skin and covered the injury with gauze. Jack felt like his chest was being crushed from the inside, seeing her laying there motionless and knowing that he had caused that state.

No, this was normal. His parents had told them that at she would pass out. Now he just needed to kill some time until she woke, so he could ask if the Claiming had worked. Jack watched her attentively, partially ignoring the weird feeling in his chest to make sure he didn't miss the first sign of distress. He waited in vain.

The time she opened her eyes again and sucked in a deep breath, Grace felt like she was thrown right into the middle of her first Heat. Her body was aching, her guts burning, her clit throbbing because she needed her release. NOW!

Grace practically jumped him and pulled him over her and between her legs. She couldn't form a coherent sentence when he asked her between kisses how she felt. Grace only bit his lower lip and let out a desperate whimper. She needed him, right now. Her body was screaming so loudly that her mind had no other choice but to shut off.

Jack fucked her hard until he knotted her breathlessly. But she didn't come yet.

“More,” she breathed into his neck, the heels of her feet digging into his ass cheeks to get even more of him inside her. She needed satisfaction, but even though Jack was buried in her to the hilt, it wasn't enough. He moved his hand down between them and rubbed quick circles over her clit, revelling in the high-pitched scream she let out when she finally orgasmed.

Her sleeping rhythm had been messed up the last Heat, but this time it was even worse. Grace didn't even fall asleep when they lay in her usual position while knotted. She sat up, straddling him and grinding against him while the knot hooked them tightly together.

Grace scratched her nails over his chest and bit down hard on her lower lip. She rolled her head from side to side, not able to collapse in her orgasmic bliss like before. She couldn't let go, her mind told her she needed more.

Jack heard her troubled mewls and purred instantly. Sitting up, he gathered her beaming body in his arms and wanted to suck on her scent gland, only to taste gauze. Fuck. The desperation and sleeplessness continued for the next exhausting, two days. On the evening of day three, Grace's Heat broke unexpectedly. Finally, they could get some rest.

Jack woke first the next morning with her laying on his chest, snoring lightly. Her hair was a mess, her body covered in dried sweat and saliva. He had left countless hickeys around her neck because he couldn't reach her Claiming mark under the dressing. She moved her legs against his under the blanket and sighed softly in her sleep.

She was his mate, it dawned to him and he moved carefully to be able to look into her peaceful face. Jack stroked his hands over her naked back and took a deep breath. He couldn't keep himself from moaning in delight. She smelled even better than before entering her Heat. It took him a moment to realize why.

“Good morning,” Grace groaned and smiled up at him with heavy eyelids.

“Good morning,” Jack purred and moved his hands down to her hips and belly. She was pregnant, holding the first seed of the next generation of _his_ family inside her. Grace noticed the dreamy look on her mate's face and smiled broadly. “I love you.”

Jack laughed loudly and pulled her even closer to kiss her still swollen, red lips. “I love you.”

He guided her to lay back on the bed and kissed down her body until he reached her pubic bone. Jack started purring deeply, making her body shiver but in a good way.

“And I love you too,” he whispered, looking down to her lower belly, speaking to his child or maybe even children. Grace almost burst with content. Her mate, her husband, the father of her child. With everything that happened she would've never thought to find herself in this situation. Grace pulled him up to her face and kissed him once more. She wanted to put as much love into this kiss as she could.

She knew by the way he looked at her that she would never have to fear being second in line ever again. If they decided to build up a relationship with his family again, it would be to their conditions with them as mutual partners. Jack would never let her down again, no matter what the future held for them and their little family.

 

The end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was an incredible journey through this work and I would be lying if I said I'm not happy that it's over now. But only because I can devote myself to my next project.
> 
> I loved every comment I got and appreciated every kudos you left me. I had ups and downs and you were always there, sticking to my story and giving me tips and tricks for future works.
> 
> I sincerely hope you were all satisfied with the way I chose to let the story end. I know I let loose ends, i.e. how Tom is dealing with being a single parent to Holly, if the Hunters ever find out about Rick's sexual orientation, and if Jack and Grace will actually return into the family's arms, stronger this time. Maybe this could be fodder for a sequel, which isn't planned yet.
> 
> Stay tuned for the things that will come, but then under my new username and pseudonym Kristin Stone. I will change my name on AO3 in a week, 25. November 2016, just so you don't wonder where my account went. It will still be there, just under another name.
> 
> I would be thrilled to find you still sticking around for the next ABO story by me. Thank you for your attention and love.


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